Burning Skies
by Seraina
Summary: "How shall I punish you for running away from me? Twice now it seems! First to that Earth Kingdom village and then to the Air Temple? You have been clever avoiding me, Mechanist. But that is over now. You belong to me and those wonderful inventions of yours will make my kingdom powerful." An AU about what could have been.
1. Capture

~ What if the Mechanist's deal with the Fire Nation had been different? ~

It had barely been a year since the refugees took up residence in the Northern Air Temple. They were still living out of tents set up in the vast halls of the abandoned structure. The winter had been harder than they thought and food had been scarce. It was only now that the hunting party was able to go down the mountain path to look for food.

The man only known as the Mechanist looked down on his sleeping two year old son. The child had finally fallen asleep with the aid of some herbs and watered down spirits. Their healer, Nala had had to re-break the child's legs again with the hope that they would heal well enough for him to walk when he is older. The Mechanist gently pulled the blanket over his son, praying that this was the last time such a pain would be inflicted upon him. Hoping that Teo was still too young to remember.

The Mechanist had found a modest set of rooms for himself and his son among the abandoned temple. Though the distance from the mountain spring that served as their water source was becoming problematic. He hurried through the empty hallways, not wanting to leave Teo alone for very long.

A sound caught his ear, the echoes of boots scuffing across stone carried along the hallways. Very few of the refugees had boots and those that did, had gone with the hunting party. He quieted his steps and stuck to the shadows. When he reached the main hall, where most of the others still set up camp, he nearly dropped his bucket in horror.

A squadron of Fire Lord soldiers were quietly murdering them in their sleep! Torn between running back to Teo and escaping, and running out to help his community. He was just about to turn when he'd been spotted. He ran down the corridor, and the chase was joined by three other Fire soldiers. The Mechanist swung his water bucket, distracting one of the soldiers that was now drenched in water. It was a shame he hadn't been a bender, or been bending. He swung the bucket at the second soldier, but the man was ready with his sword, the blade connecting with his hand and neatly severing three of his fingers.

The Mechanist cried out and dropped the bucket, clutching his injured hand to his chest. He was cornered now and closed his eyes, praying that someone would save Teo. He closed his eyes and prepared for the final blow... hoping he would get to see his wife on the other side.

"Is this him?" One of the soldiers asked.

"Yes. It is. The rest of the refugees have been eliminated. Bring him." The words shocked him, the others were gone? Slaughtered? They had survived the worst flood of memory but were just culled in a short night.

"No! No, I refuse to leave without my son!" He shouted, without any survivors, Teo would die for sure. He had to let them take him.

The soldier that had him by the arm looked at his commander, who nodded. "Where is he?"

"Down this passage, to the left, third door on the right. He's two years old, but can't walk. His legs are broken. I'll carry him." He found himself babbling to the guards, in near hysterics at the thought of what these men would do to Teo.

Another soldier grabbed his injured hand and started wrapping bandages around the bloody stump of his hand.

He saw the soldier with his son and was relieved that the boy still slept. Teo was normally a mild tempered boy, but the Mechanist was afraid the soldiers not hesitate to use force on him if he cried.

Soon, the father was cradling his son in the back of a prison cart, headed towards the borders of the Fire Nation.

"Papa?" a small, sleepy voice asked.

"Yes Teo?" The Mechanist fought to keep his voice quiet and even.

"We go to a new home now?" The boy shifted in his father's lap, trying to be comfortable despite the splints that held his legs.

"Yes, my son. We're going to a new home now. The journey might be long. But I want you to try to be brave and not cry. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded and wrapped his arms around his father's waist, burying his face in the Mechanic's side.

He could only hope that whatever may happen, the two of them would be together.

* * *

After the long journey, the Mechanist and Teo were ushered from the cart and into the palace. The Mechanist carried his son the entire way, following the captain and was flanked by two other soldiers. Fire Lord Azulon sat on his throne, looking down on the simple inventor.

"Mechanist. You have refused me for the last time. You will work for me now. I own you. And your weak son! You will obey me, or the child will be punished." The Fire Lord laughed and Teo whimpered, holding tightly to his father's shirt.

"It is unnecessary, Fire Lord. I will do as you command. I have nothing left but my son. Please, I will create anything you can imagine, so long as he is unharmed." The Mechanist pleaded.

A general stepped close to the Mechanist. "He will not be harmed unless you try to escape. I will see to it that he is cared for." The general was imposing, regal, when he turned to the Fire Lord, his face was impassive. But when he gently took Teo from his father, he did so with gentleness. His own son was too old to be carried, but he had not forgotten.

"Be a good boy, Teo." The Mechanist attempted to smile for the boy as he was taken away.

Once the General left, the other soldiers grabbed him roughly.

"How shall I punish you for running away from me? Twice now it seems! First to that Earth Kingdom village and then to the Air Temple? You have been clever avoiding me, Mechanist. But that is over now. You belong to me and those wonderful inventions of yours will make my kingdom powerful."

A signal from the Fire Lord and the guards beat him. The last thing he thought of, before passing out, was that he was grateful to the general for taking Teo away.

* * *

Iroh carried the child through the hallways of the palace. It was late enough at night that he knew he wouldn't run into anyone. The boy looked exhausted and was trying to be brave.

"Are you hungry, Teo? I'm sure you missed supper."

The boy nodded sleepily.

Once they arrived in the kitchens, Iroh settled the boy on the counter top. He made sure Teo was stable and wasn't about to fall off. "There we are. Do you like sandwiches?"

The boy nodded again. "Is Papa gonna die?"

Iroh stopped his sandwich making and looked at the boy. "No. He will not die. Your father is strong. You will see him soon. In fact, why don't I take you to your new home and we can wait for him together?"

"Okay!" Despite being exhausted and in obvious pain, the child was worried for his father. Iroh couldn't understand why his father insisted on torturing this child's father so much. Sure, the man was a genius. And he had the potential to revolutionize the kingdom's economy, but to slaughter a second village to bring the man in alive? It seemed... excessive. Irrational.

But Iroh was not the Fire Lord. And all he could do was to take the child to the small living area just off of the workshop. The workshop that had remained empty since the Mechanist had last resided in the palace.

* * *

_edited: changed Ozai to Azulon because when this chapter takes place, it would be before Ozai takes the throne._


	2. Curiosity

The Mechanist bent over his workbench, trying to focus on the final adjustments he needed to make. "Just a few seconds more, Teo."

Teo was sitting on the floor next to the workbench, his useless legs stretched out in front of him. The seven year old was tinkering with a few gears and a rubber gasket, amusing himself by coming up with new ways to fit them together. The Mechanist was constantly surprised by his son's intelligence. Sadly, Teo would probably grow up here, in the service of the Fire Lord. He would not know of anything outside of this workshop. The thought caused his hands to still for a moment before he shook himself free of the memories.

Unfortunately, Teo was still unable to walk. No matter what the Fire Lord's best healers said, he still believed that his son was special and could overcome. "Teo? Are you ready?"

"Yes Dad," the boy put down his makeshift toys and grabbed the bench he'd been leaning against and levered himself up and onto it. The child then picked up his legs one by one and lay them straight on the bench on front of him. The Mechanist then unwrapped the bandages from his son's legs and checked them for bruises and sores. Once that was finished, he re-wrapped his son's legs and fastened the metal and leather braces around them.

"How's that feel, son?"

Teo squirmed and shifted a little as he pulled the pins that held his legs out straight and dropped his legs over the side of the bench. "They fit much better now, Dad." He still couldn't walk, but the braces ensured that his legs grew straight. And Teo had grown like a weed these past few years.

"Good. Do you want the chair?" The Mechanist had done several drafts of a wheeled chair so that Teo could move easier. And it was much better for all parties involved if he didn't crawl everywhere.

"Yeah," the boy replied. They had designed it together and it was made of some metal scraps leftover from one of the larger projects. Teo had been skeptical at first, but once he got the hang of moving the chair, he was zooming and spinning around the workshop. Teo was soon settled in his chair once more and happily playing at the low table next to his father's work bench.

Now that that task was completed, the Mechanist stretched and started his next task. Fire Lord Azulon kept him very busy building irrigation systems, transportation vehicles, tanks and weapons for the Fire Nation's war. He had just begun to concentrate on the latest revision of his tank design when he heard shouting outside his workshop.

The Mechanist's current guard, Chey moved to investigate, but was pushed aside by the small Fire Princess. Azula marched through the cluttered workshop and looked up at the inventor. She thrust a small box up at him. "I order you to fix this!"

Chey and a contingent of the Princess's guards all had eyes on the Mechanist. With slow movements, he took the small box from the eight year old and carefully opened the lid. The music box was stuck, the little fire dancer's movements had stopped and the hinge was broken. "I'll start right away, Princess Azula. It may take some time though, I will send it to you when I am finished."

The Mechanist was wholly unprepared for what happened next. The Princess opened her mouth and wailed, clutching her fist in his pants and tugging. "I order you to fix it now! Now! Now!"

The bewildered inventor stole a glance at the soldiers in the room and then back down to the inconsolable princess. "Right away, Princess Azula. Would you like to supervise the process?" The Mechanist moved around his main worktable and sat on the floor beside Teo. He then grabbed a stool and moved it to his other side so the princess could sit and watch as well.

Teo remained silent through this process. He'd never seen any of the royals before. Not since they arrived here.

Azula glared at the stool for a moment, as if it offended her somehow, then carefully picked up her robes and sat down. She refused to touch anything else in the room. Her guards took a step closer, hovering over their shoulders.

"Now first, I will fix the broken hinge. Teo? Bring me the parts box." The Mechanist stet the music box down on the table and stood, retrieving a few small tools and a polishing rag. Teo pushed his chair towards the shelves that lined the room and pulled a small box onto his lap. He returned and set it carefully beside his father. "Thank you, Teo," the inventor quickly removed several sets of small hinges and laid them out in front of the Princess. "Princess Azula, I cannot match the existing hinge, but I can replace them both. Which of these pleases you the most?"

Azula scrunched her face up in concentration and pointed to the third set.

The Mechanist set to work replacing both hinges and then carefully oiled them, opening and closing the box several times to be sure they did not squeak. "Now for the important part!" He put on his magnifying monocle and looked inside the box's mechanism, then used tweezers to remove the tiny dancer's arm that was wedged in there and set it aside. He applied just the smallest dab of his fast-drying glue and reattached the limb, then turned the key in the back of the box. The music started playing and the dancer spun in her circle and the Princess's eyes lit up. For the first time since she had entered the workshop, she looked happy.

"You fixed it!"

The Mechanist closed the lid gently and gently wiped the varnished wood with a polishing cloth before presenting it back to his Princess. "It was my honor to serve my Princess."

Azula stood from the stool and nodded her head before running back out of the workshop, her guards trailing behind. The Mechanist looked at Chey and sighed, though the young guardsman didn't seem to have much clue either.

"Was that really Princess Azula?" Teo asked quietly.

"Yes, son. You will always be polite to her and let her do whatever she wishes."

* * *

Azula ran back to Mai and Ty Lee, clutching the box in hand. "I did it!"

"He was there? Was he scary?" asked Mai, who had just thought the Mechanist was a palace rumor.

"I hear he has an automaton that rolls around his workshop!" Ty Lee chimed in as well.

"I hear he's missing a hand because one of his inventions blew it off!" Mai added, because the servants and staff often whispered about the strange goings on in that part of the palace.

The girls crowded around Azula as she opened the music box and it worked just like new. "He was just a man, nothing to worry about at all. He's not even a bender! He is only missing three fingers on his left hand. And he does not have an automaton, it is a boy in a chair with wheels. He was younger than we are though."

Ty Lee frowned, she wanted to see what a real automaton looked like. "Did he say anything?"

"No. He looked Earth Kingdom though, so he must belong to the Mechanist," Azula stated.

Zuko walked over then. Azula glared at him until he ducked his head. "Azula, I apologize for breaking your music box," the Prince said, because their mother had told him to apologize for damaging his sister's music box.

"Zuko, what do you know of the Mechanist?"

The older boy shifted on his feet and looked up to the sky. "His workshop is off limits. And he is not to be disturbed. Why? What have you done?"

The Fire Princess scoffed and waved off her brother. "You broke my music box, so I ordered him to fix it. Did you know there is a boy down there?"

A shake of his head sent the Fire Prince's hair askew. "No. I have never been down there."

"You're no help at all!" Azula pouted and crossed her arms.

"Why? Did he anger you?" Zuko was suspicious of his sister's motives. She often liked to play wild pranks. And he was usually the focus.

"No! I should know if there are any other children living in the palace," Azula's logic seemed sound to her young mind.

"Uncle Iroh knows everyone in the palace. You should ask him."

"I think I will." And the music box was abandoned carelessly in the grass as the Fire Princess made her way to her Uncle's suite.


	3. Companion

Zuko had followed his sister to visit their uncle. They found him just in time for tea. Zuko didn't like tea, but he liked his uncle enough to not be rude. Azula jumped right into her questioning.

"What do you know about the Mechanist?"

The General considered the question for a long moment before he began to speak. "The Mechanist is an inventor in service to the Fire Nation. He invented the steam powered engines for our naval fleet."

"And his name is just the Mechanist?" Zuko asked, he'd been thinking about that for some time.

"That is what he is known now. Some say he traded his name to a Weaver spirit in order for endless creativity!"

"That can't be true, you can't trade a name!" Azula cried.

"That is just one of the stories told about him. But he should not be disturbed. He does important work for our country," Iroh set a plate of sweets down on the table for his niece and nephew.

"But who is that boy?" Azula asked, accidentally revealing that she had been in the workshop.

"Ah, his name is Teo. He is the Mechanist's son. I believe he is a year younger than you are, Azula," Iroh filled in, curious as to what the fire princess wanted such information.

All other conversation was interrupted when Lu Ten returned from his training mission.

* * *

Teo lay in bed in the room behind the workshop that he and his father shared. It had nearly been a month since the Princess's visit and since then, nothing interesting had happened. The only notable thing about today was that his father and the guards had gone out to the mountains to test one of the new inventions.

He didn't have much to do when his father was away, so he had slept in. But now he was just bored. Teo pulled himself into his wheelchair and headed into the main workshop area. It was cloudy today, which meant the only light came from the lantern that he lit and hung on the back of his chair. He hated being alone on days like this.

The sound of the workshop door opening startled him out of his gloomy thoughts. "Who's there?"

"I am Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation!"

And soon Teo sat before the older princess. "What... what are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to speak to your superior?"

Teo shrank back in his chair, afraid she might hit him.

"I order you to play with me," the Fire Princess demanded.

"What?" Teo was surprised. He was nobody. Not even the servants acknowledged his presence. Only his father and the guards assigned to the workshop bothered to interact with him.

The Fire Princess sighed as if it was a chore to explain herself to him. "Mai and Ty Lee had to go home last week. Zuko is away with Mother. I am bored and you will play with me."

"Oh. Yes, Princess. What would you like to play?" Teo was still stunned. Unsure if this was really happening.

The princess looked down at him. Inspecting him as if he were an animal on the market. It was then that he realized that he was still in his long sleep shirt. He self-consciously tugged the hem down to hide his legs.

"What's wrong with you?" The princess had no concept of personal space, she leaned over him and poked at his thin leg.

"My uh.. my legs were crushed when I was a baby. They don't work right," Teo resisted the urge to back away.

"We're going outside," she said after growing bored with poking him.

"I need to change clothes," Teo turned his chair around and hurried back to his room, pulling on a clean shirt and shorts. He then wrapped his legs in a clean set of bandages. He was so focused on his task that he didn't hear the princess come into the room behind him.

"What are you doing now?" She asked.

"My father made me these braces to keep my legs straight," Teo held up the metal and leather contraptions and showed her how he put them on. Once he was fastened in properly, he looked up at her. "I'm ready now."

Azula just turned around and headed out the door to the workshop.

Teo hesitated at the door. He'd never left the workshop without his father before. But the Fire Princess's glare kept him going.

Soon, they were out in a small garden overlooking the ocean. Azula didn't seem to be as impressed as Teo was. He then looked up at her, waiting to be given instruction on what to do next.

"You don't bend, do you?"

"No. My Grandfather is an earthbender, but I've never met him," Teo replied.

Just when Azula was about to open her mouth, a fat raindrop hit her square in the eye. Both children looked up and were met with the rain. The Fire Princess looked at the precipitation as if it had offended her, where Teo just spread his arms out and laughed.

"What is wrong with you?" The Princess demanded.

"I've never been outside in the rain before!"

Teo's confession stumped Azula and she stared at him a moment. "Well how about this?" She started to firebend in the rain, making twirls and sparks that quickly dissolved, but lit up the dark afternoon.

Teo happily applauded Azula's antics, which just prompted her dance to continue.

"Azula! AZULA!" a cry came from the palace as Ursa emerged, carrying a large parasol. "What are you doing out here? You're soaked to the bone!" The Fire Lady fussed over her daughter a moment before she looked at Teo. "Both of you are going inside right now."

The younger Fire Princess and the Mechanist's son shared a look. They had been caught and will be punished for the fun they had. But Azula, not wanting her mother to drag her inside, grabbed the back of Teo's chair and started pushing him towards the workshop. As she pushed him towards shelter, she leaned over and whispered in his ear "I won't be in trouble and neither will you. You followed my orders. We will play again."

Once they were out of the rain, Ursa looked around the empty workshop, then addressed Teo, "When is your father returning?"

"He said he would be gone until the day after tomorrow," he said quietly, shivering in the dark room.

"We can't just leave him alone in here!" Azula looked up at her mother, a determined expression on her face.

"If you enjoy his company as your companion, Azula, I will not stop you. But you will have to ask your father when you are not dripping all over the place," the elder Fire Princess looked down at the boy again.

The Fire Princess ran back to her room to change her clothes, leaving Teo alone with her mother.

"I apologize for my daughter's rudeness. Things may change for you, if my daughter wishes your company." Ursa started pushing Teo's chair towards the royal servants' quarters.

"No one ever speaks to me, except my Father. It was nice," Teo kept his eyes on the ground, so he didn't see the surprised look on Ursa's face. They were silent until Ursa pushed open the door to one of the empty servant's rooms. "You can stay here until your Father returns. I can get you some of Zuko's old clothes. They should fit you."

And then Teo was left alone in the small room. He barely had enough space to lift himself from his chair to the bed. By the time he got out of his braces, all he wanted to do was sleep. He didn't notice Ursa returning with the clothes, or her helping him into them. The bed was comfortable and warm. He dreamt of Azula dancing in the rain.


	4. Bargain

~ Everyone has a scheme ~

Azula desired the things that she could have and that Zuko could not. Mai had already betrayed her by liking Zuko. And Ty Lee was so flighty that it was often too hard to wrangle the girl to do what Azula wanted. Teo was perfect. She could order him around and he would have to obey her. He was the son of a slave, after all. Her mother would allow it because it would seem like she took pity on the cripple. But it would be much more difficult convincing her father and grandfather to agree.

Her plans were further stalled by being sick in bed for three days after getting soaked in the rain. As soon as he servants let her go, she ran to her father's study.

"Father! I desire a companion!" The young Fire Princess demanded as she stood before her father's desk.

Ozai looked down at his daughter, "A companion? What of your friends?"

"Mai and Ty Lee had to go home. They aren't allowed to stay here with me all the time."

"And how do you propose to solve this problem, Azula? Do you wish for a pet dragon?" he looked back down at his battle reports, casually leaving through them, making his daughter wait.

"No. I want the boy in the workshop," she said cooly. "He already belongs to the Fire Nation. I can order him to do whatever I want. I can in no way ever overpower me," Azula stated, though mentally she added that Teo was unique and Zuko would not be able to have one.

Ozai was surprised, his eyes shot straight to Azula. "You have been in the workshop?"

"The Mechanist fixed my music box after Zuko broke it," Azula remained casual, knowing that nobody but the guards assigned to the workshop, her uncle Iroh and Fire Lord Azulon himself was allowed to enter and leave.

"And... what did you see in there?"

"Nothing of interest. Maps. There was a drawing of a machine with wheels. More drawings of a man with one leg and some measurements. It was mostly empty," The princess commented on the workshop. Though it held several full shelves, there wasn't much going on in the shop itself that caught her eye. Except Teo, that is.

"My Father is wasting him," the Fire Prince stood and walked towards the window. "If I gave you this boy as your companion, you will have to agree to my terms, daughter."

She could feel her father giving in. Manipulating him was so easy. Just like everyone else. "Of course, Father."

"You will learn all your firebending forms before your brother. You will have the boy tell you what new projects the Mechanist is working on. And you will tell no one of these conditions. You will not harm him. If the boy dies, you will be punished severely. If you speak of this to anyone, I will kill the boy in front of you, is that clear?" Ozai stared down as his only daughter.

And she stared back up at him. "Perfectly, Father. I agree to all terms."

* * *

"You let her own the boy?" Ursa asked her husband when he joined her in their suite.

"Of course I did. The Mechanist will now be loyal to me. My Father is wasting his talent. The technology that we can have! All for what? The sake of an old deal made with an old man?" Ozai paced as he spoke. "Right now, all he's doing is keeping that Earthbender in a neutral position. But without breaking the bargain, we can use the Mechanist to our advantage."

"Azula will break that boy. He is fragile," Ursa shook her head.

"Playing with the boy should teach her control, a quality she currently lacks," he snorted and settled down beside his wife, pulling her to him. "Firebending in the rain."

Ursa settled against her husband, but her mind was not at ease.

* * *

The Mechanist was not happy as he watched the young Fire Princess push Teo's chair out of the workshop. He had worked hard to shelter his son from the treacherous political battleground they stood on. Tried to keep him from the harsh realities that they were just tiles on the global pai sho table. He gave up his name, his home, his family, his wife... all for nothing now that Teo was Azula's pet.

The Mechanist was stirred from his thoughts by the sounds of the guards being dismissed. He waited until he was alone with his visitor.

"I saw Teo with Azula. It is within the rules," Iroh said grimly.

"Yes. When she came for him, she stopped to look at everything. Ozai now has a spy inside my workshop. And Teo is how a player on the board," the Mechanist turned to face the other man.

"I'm afraid that you might not be able to follow a neutral stance anymore. Ozai is scheming and I cannot stop him. If he comes into power, I fear that all of our plans will be for nothing," Iroh moved over to the Mechanist's workbench and pulled out a hidden bottle of cactus juice and held it out to the younger man.

"Once you are in control here, then I can finally bring Teo to Omashu. But I fear Azulon is immortal. He must stay alive out of spite," the Mechanist took the offered bottle and took a long pull from it before offering it back to his old friend. "Apologies, Iroh. I did not mean to insult your family."

"No apologies necessary, my friend. The political machine crushes all that stand in its way. I am not so foolish to realize that my family has committed unspeakable acts against the world," Iroh sat down on a stool.

"Azulon and Ozai," the Mechanist started, sitting on the edge of the cluttered work bench, "I can bring this nation so much more than war, Iroh. I have drawn up plans for mechanical harvesters, irrigation systems, a printing press, elevators, steam powered trains. The possibilities are endless Iroh. But all they ever want are weapons. War machines."

"It cannot last forever, my friend. One side must fall. That is the way of things," Iroh commented. "But back to your original concern, Teo is a bright boy. He may yet temper Azula's rough edges. She will learn patience from him. And perhaps he will learn something as well."

"I hope so, Iroh. I hope so."

* * *

Azula pushed his chair out to the very edge of the garden they escaped to not a week before. She surprised him by spreading a blanket on the grass and set down a bag she brought with her. "Well?" she looked at him from her place on the blanket.

"Oh. Right." Teo proceeded to climb out of his chair and settled himself on the blanket. He then reached back to the pocket on the back of his chair and withdrew a battered old book. "Adventure Stories! Volume Seven: The Island of the Dragons!" He read the title to her and flipped to the first well, worn page. "Aza was a young firebender from a small village on Kirachu Island. But she was bored and longed for adventure."

"Where did you find this book?" Azula interrupted as she unpacked the lunch that her servants packed for them.

"The bottom shelves of the library, all the way in the back. This one was the only one that still had all of the pages," Teo admitted.

Azula considered this and nodded. "You may continue," she stated, laying down to listen to Teo read her the fictional story about a girl firebender and her adventures on the floating island. She imagined herself dancing on the mountain in front of the Dragon Queen and being invited to rule all of dragonkind. She was so enraptured with the story, that when Teo stopped reading, she blinked at the already darkening sky. "Wait... is that all? What happened to Aza and the golden egg? Is Fandhir going to live? Why did you stop?"

"The book ends. It says 'Continued in Volume Eight'," Teo showed her the offending line.

"Oh. So go get it then," she resumed her spot on the blanket, glancing towards the palace.

"This was the last book. The palace library didn't have Volume Eight," Teo set the book down, obviously disappointed by the fact that it ended so abruptly.

Azula grabbed the front of Teo's tunic and pulled him close. "I demand to know what happened! What. Happened. Next?"

Teo's mind whirled and he opened his mouth, "Just as Aza was about to lose to the swamp slugs, Fandhir swooped down from above, riding Tan'da, the white dragon. Fandhir had been injured in his fall and Tan'da had revived him, sharing her life force with his so that he would live. He pulled Aza to safety and they rode off with the golden egg."

Azula let go of Teo's shirt and he fell sideways onto the blanket. He rolled over onto his back, looking up at the evening sky as he continued. "Aza led them to the lava caves of Indor, where they could safely hatch the egg into the new DragonMother." Teo continued to make up the story until Azula's servants convinced her to go inside for supper.

"We will finish this tomorrow," she told Teo, who was left by himself to get back to the workshop.

"Of course, Aza," he whispered.


	5. Changes

Azula's world had turned on its head. Her mother was gone. Her cousin Lu Ten was dead. Her uncle had deserted the army at Ba Sing Se. And now her father was the Fire Lord. It was almost too much to handle. Shortly after her Father's coronation, she snuck down to Teo's room beside the workshop. It was still normal in there. Teo hadn't changed like everyone else. Teo would never leave her behind.

"Aza and Fandhir then drank the Water of Immortality, so that they could continue adventuring forever," Teo said, his arm still around Azula's shoulders as they lay on his bed.

"I am too old for dragon stories now," she sniffled and moved away from Teo.

"What will happen now?" Teo asked, sitting up next to her.

"I will start attending the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. And you will stay here. Father will want more inventions, so you should be busy enough without me," she curled her legs underneath her, not caring that she was wrinkling her best set of clothes.

"I want to show you something," he said, pulling himself towards the edge of the bed.

The Fire Princess watched him rummage around a moment before giving him a shove, causing him to fall off the narrow bed. She often found reasons to push him over. Make him fall. She didn't know why, but it made her feel better. Especially when he got back up again.

"Ow!" Teo lay on the floor, his legs tangled in the sheet. After a few minutes, he crawled back up on the bed with his princess and handed her something made of red paper and wooden rods.

"What is this? Some kind of terrible fan?" Azula turned the thing over in her hand.

"No, it's a glider. Here, I'll show you," he carefully and gently took it from her, an act that would usually end in pain, but she was curious enough to let him go. He held it in his hand and threw it, sending the glider along a long, graceful slope until it landed against the wall.

"It flies like an airbender?" the Fire Princess slipped off the bed and retrieved the toy. She aimed it back at Teo and threw, and the glider landed next to him. "What is it for?"

"For flying. It's modeled after the gliders the air nomads used. But modified for regular people to fly," he picked the toy up again, but did not throw it.

"Why would you want to fly?"

"Because if I could fly, then no one could tell me that I couldn't do something," he didn't meet Azula's gaze.

"My companion wishes to fly, and fly he shall!" She grabbed the glider from him and ran out the door of his room. Teo scrambled to his chair to catch up to her. Azula ran to the workshop and up the ladder to the catwalk. Along the way she found a brush and wrote Teo's name on the toy.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Teo stopped at the ladder, looking up at her.

"Go look out the window!" She yelled, then opened the window nearest her, tossing the glider out the window.

The paper glider was picked up by the wind and carried over the garden before it disappeared out of sight. The pair just watched the horizon. It was a long moment before the Princess came back down to Teo's level. She grabbed the arms of Teo's chair and golden eyes met brown. "You will do the same when I come home for the Summer Solstice Festival."

Teo just nodded. Azula had given him an order and he would follow it.

* * *

The Academy was boring. She was the most advanced student there. It was practically a waste of her time. Private tutors were sent. Extra lessons. Her Father's letters came less frequently and only received instruction from her tutors. She felt abandoned. Not even Zuko could bother to visit her. Zuko spent most of his time with Uncle Iroh. They were both traitors.

But at least here she wasn't alone. Ty Lee and Mai were there to keep her company. The three of them got along well enough. They were her oldest friends, after all. But she never told them about Teo. They had forgotten about the boy in the workshop. She didn't even share his letters with them. Teo belonged to her and her alone. As always.

Finally alone in her room, she opened Teo's letter and read. "Dear Princess Azula," his letters always started with formality.

"After damaging the gardens, Father and I were practically banished to the mountains until we perfected the glider. Fire Lord Ozai sees the potential in air travel, it seems. I have completed several short flights, but it is too difficult to stay in the air for longer, sustained travel. I believe we will work it out though. If Father will let me after the last fall. The village where we are staying is nice but their doctor doesn't know what to do with me. He doesn't believe that learning to fly is a worthy pursuit. But he also wouldn't believe that the Fire Princess Herself has ordered the task done! The next time I fall, I will just have to try to miss the ground!"

Azula smiled at Teo's humor, always making her smile.

"Send up a signal when you have the palace in sight. I will be waiting for your return."

The Fire Princess sighed. Teo wanted her and was waiting. He was even still trying to follow her unrealistic order to learn how to fly.

She burned Teo's letter and dusted off her hands. It wouldn't do for anyone else to know how he wrote to her. Or that he wrote to her at all. With that task finished, she headed to the practice arena. If she was to keep her Father happy, she needed to be the best. Not only did she need to be better than all the girls here, she needed to be better than Zuko.

Zuko had been Mother's favorite. But Azula planned on more than just stories and hugs. She wanted the throne. And once their father saw how powerful she was, he would understand that she was above toys and school and childish things. She would have her own rule once Ozai ruled the world.

With her own piece of the world, she could then be free. Just her and Teo. Free to fly and dance and do whatever they wanted. Without change. Without betraying mothers or dying cousins or things that make the floor drop out of her orderly world.

And as she practiced, she formed plans. And as she formed plans... her flame glowed hotter. It would all be hers. She just needed a little patience.


	6. Reunited

The carriage ride home from the academy was dull. So dull that she forced her entourage to go faster, despite having to go through the mountains. She urged her escorts onward, knowing she was close enough to the spot Teo had asked her to signal. She stopped the procession and hopped out of the palanquin and shot both of her hands up into the air, releasing blue fire into the sky.

She didn't have to wait long. Over the next pass, she saw a bright red explosion of fireworks. When the initial blast of light faded, she saw a shape forming in the smoke.

"Welcome Home Princess Azula!"

The Fire Princess smiled and was about to return to her palanquin when she saw a large red... thing... floating in the sky. The guards that were with her seemed hesitant, until they saw the large symbol of the Fire Nation on the side of the balloon. In the basket were two men, waving their arms at the party. "Princess Azula, it would be hour honor if you would accompany us the rest of the way to the palace in our war balloon," said the Mechanist as he leaned over the side of the basket. Teo kept his face impassive in front of the soldiers as he lowered a rope ladder in front of Azula

She looked around at her stunned companions and smirked, grabbing hold of the ladder. "I will honor your request, Mechanist. Your method of travel seems much more suited to me than traveling like a peasant."

Azula needed no help from the men as she easily scaled the rope and climbed into the basket. Once there, she looked down at the ground, then to the contraption that fed the balloon hot air. It was louder than she expected, between the wind and the sound of the flames feeding the balloon. Once she was satisfied that her entourage could no longer eavesdrop on them, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Teo, making him drop the rope ladder he had been coiling back up. Once the moment of affection passed, she turned to the Mechanist. "Perhaps I should task you with a trip to the moon next, since you seem to have mastered flying without a problem."

The Mechanist, wisely, did not comment on the hug. "We have mastered nothing, except the ability to float in the air. Gliding from one place to another has proven to be much more difficult, though I suspect you can get a detailed report from Teo, who has been the lead test subject in those experimentations."

The formality of speech was all a cover, Azula knew that the Mechanist disliked her ownership of his son. But he was far too intelligent to push the issue with her. Because on her word, she could have Teo relocated anywhere in the country and nothing he could do would be able to overrule that order. It was why she chose to hug Teo in the first place, not that she missed him. Not that he was tan from working outdoors. Not that the tunic he wore showed off the muscles in his arms. No. It was just their game.

"Once we get near the palace, I can show you the glider test," Teo added, gesturing to a contraption made of sticks and cloth in the corner of the basket.

Azula passed the time talking about how boring school was and how excited she was for the Solstice Festival.

Once the palace was in sight, Teo adjusted the straps of his tunic, then his braces and the Mechanist turned up the flame in the furnace.

"What are you doing?" Azula demanded.

"You wanted to see me glide. I'll meet you on the ground," Teo smiled, pulling a pair of goggles over his eyes. Once the balloon reached an appropriate height, Teo grabbed the sticks, hooked one end onto his boot and threw himself backwards out of the balloon's basket.

Azula gasped and leaned over the side, watching Teo twist in the air as he fell. She sighed in relief as the "wings" of the glider opened and straightened and his speed slowed to a gentle glide towards the palace walls.

"It takes getting used to," the Mechanist said from behind her.

"What?" the Fire Princess glanced at the inventor, then back to Teo's glider.

"Watching him fall. But," the older man paused, "He always finds a way to get back up again."

* * *

Omashu was quiet in the mornings. King Bumi enjoyed that early morning silence. Hardly any of his advisors were around at the crack of dawn, which is why he made sure to be awake then. Less stuffy windbags to ruin his mood while he was reading his mail. He sorted through the various advertisements and standard requests and gifts and paused when an envelope slipped to the floor. The only mark on the paper was that of a lotus.

Quickly, Bumi ripped open the envelope and his eyes hungrily scanned the message. Then the old man ran to his Pai Sho table and started rearranging the pieces on the board.

"He Flew."

The earthbending master held his breath and reread both the code and the message. When it remained the same, he let out a loud, "Whoooop!" and started dancing about his chambers.

Bumi was overjoyed, the boy had inherited the family genius after all. Only a mad genius would be able to fly without bending or wings. But the implications of such an act stung. Soon enough this knowledge would be passed from its discoverer to others and thus used in the war. As thrilled as he was for the boy, he was also saddened. It was very unlikely he would ever get to meet the boy with such spirit.

The King of Omashu reset his Pai Sho table and tore up the letter. He ate the pieces just as his first advisor came to check on all the noise.

* * *

The Mechanist knelt in front of the Fire Lord's throne, waiting for his next assignment, as soon as Ozai could bother himself to speak with his prized inventor.

"The balloon is a worthy achievement. But now I need a way to breach walls. A drill. And tanks that can be flipped and continue to function. This is what I require of you, Mechanist. If my brother's army cannot breach the walls of Ba Sing Se, then technology must be applied. The Earth Kingdom cannot stop a machine that has not been invented yet!" the old Fire Lord laughed.

"As you wish, Fire Lord, it will be granted," the Mechanist replied in the standard response. He was about to leave when the Fire Lord spoke again.

"I hear your son has learned to fly like an airbender. At the command of my daughter, no less."

"The glider was inspired by the airbender design. But no bending is required. It would be equal ground for a nonbender soldier to soar over a battlefield, dropping explosives without damaging our soldier," he stated, knowing that only if an invention had a militaristic value, would it be approved by the Fire Lord.

"Elevating the status of nonbenders is a dangerous thing, Mechanist. We would not want the people of our nation to fight each other, would we?"

"No, Fire Lord. I would not want to overstep my bounds," the Mechanist replied bitterly before heading back to his workshop.

* * *

_~ Edited, again, because I got my dates mixed up again. Sorry for the confusion ~_


	7. Interlude: Empty

_~ I felt the need to address this, but didn't want it cluttering up the other storyline bits. Also, I'm looking for a beta reader, if anyone is interested. ~_

"Hey, we're almost at the Northern Air Temple. This is where they had the championships for Sky Bison polo," Aang shouted from further up on Appa's saddle.

"Do you think we'll really find airbenders?" Katara asked her brother, moving to sit beside him in the back of the saddle.

Sokka continued to mangle the piece of wood with his knife. He didn't have the patience for any real shape. "You want me to be like you, or totally honest?"

Katara turned to Sokka, crossing her arms, "Are you saying I'm a liar?"

Shrugging, he kept whittling, "I'm saying you're an optimist. Same thing, basically."

The water tribe siblings almost got into a fight right there when Aang called out. "Hey guys? Look at this."

Aang guided Appa to land on the edge of the Air Temple platform. It looked like an entire village threw all their garbage on the common area of the temple.

Sokka hopped down and started to sweep the debris away when he saw human remains and shrieked like a terrified child. "B-b-bodies! Aang... they're... they're all dead!"

The last airbender gently used his bending abilities to sweep away the top layer of dirt, ash and garbage. The three teens looked in horror at the skeleton with the broken neck.

"It's not an air nomad," Aang said at last.

Sokka examined the corpse's clothes, the green and brown rags that hung on the bones. "Looks like Earth Kingdom, but why?"

The trio silently moved through the debris pile, finding more than a hundred bodies in various states of decomposition.

"But... why? This doesn't answer any questions. It just makes more!" Aang shouted into the empty temple, but no answers shouted back.


	8. Bond

After the gliding test succeeded, Teo and the Mechanist started perfecting and adapting the glider technology. Especially after the Mechanist had gone back to the Northern Air Temple in secret to find the basis of his inspiration. They also started planning larger balloons, and started perfecting designs for larger aircraft. Though it constantly frustrated the two of them when the engineers took out the boilers and fuel sources and replaced them with firebending. "Even if it is manned by an entire crew of firebenders, there should be a backup!" the Mechanist slammed the workshop door in the face of the head engineer in charge of building the drill.

"Of all the bull pig-headed, small minded imbeciles they send me," the Mechanist wandered back to the large workbench. Over the years, the tables had been rearranged. Teo's small table had been upgraded to a much larger table that was easier for him to use while sitting in his chair.

"Dad just calm down. He's just doing his job the way he was taught. We can't all be visionaries," he chuckled, moving a magnifying lens in front of his face. "Hey dad, come look at this."

The Mechanist sighed and put his frustrations out of his mind as he looked over his son's shoulder. Teo was now fourteen, and when he wasn't with the Fire Princess, he spent his days in the workshop with his gliders and various other tasks that kept him occupied. He didn't often get the chance to fly, but he would always volunteer to carry important designs and messages from the workshop to the build site of the more complicated machinery. "What's this then?"

Teo fixed the magnifying glass to the end of a jointed arm and moved it in over the table top. "Hands free magnification! Which should come in handy for you, since you've got less than the rest of us."

The Mechanist laughed and clapped his son on the shoulder, "Good one. On the invention and the joke."

"I was going to make the run again today," Teo said, moving his feet to the floor and levering himself into a standing position using the edge of the work bench. His braces clicked and locked as he stood and he slowly shuffled his feet and edged around the table.

It wasn't a natural movement, but it did put him on a somewhat level ground when it came to the engineers. The people of the fire nation didn't excuse weakness. There were no cripples begging in the streets of the capital. Since he started "walking" and "standing", Teo had gained more authority as his father's assistant and Azula's personal servant.

The Mechanist watched his son hobble towards his glider. Thankfully they'd perfected folding the wings months ago, otherwise it'd hardly be convenient to carry the whole glider at all times. "You know, son, we could probably just attach a modified glider to the back of your chair."

"Maybe one day. But I'm... invisible," he started speaking, turning as he rested against the workbench. "Looking down is for the weak. Only those taller than your shoulder will be heard."

"Yes, I suppose I understand that. It," the Mechanist paused, knowing his son's frustrations. It hurt him that if they had lived anywhere else, Teo would be accepted regardless. "It isn't like that everywhere."

"I'm not invisible to the people that matter," Teo pushed off of the workbench and made it across the room to his flying gear. "You and Princess Azula are all I need," and Teo's smile showed that he didn't know how much the statement cut at his heart.

The Fire Nation had corrupted his son. The young princess hadn't used fear. Just the promise of friendship, even a hostile one, had meant more to Teo than anything in the world. And even if they escaped... if he snuck Teo out of here in the dead of night... his son would only resent him. How had he miscalculated so badly?

"I will be out by the balloon. I think I've got the auto-altitude adjustment figured out. I can't wait to show Princess Azula," Teo continued, despite the Mechannist's internal struggling.

The White Lotus had promised they would protect them from this eventuality. He needed to get a letter out. But now he couldn't even trust Teo to deliver it securely.

"Do you think she'll be back soon?"

"What?" the Mechanist snapped out of his calculations and looked at the teenager. He had grown so much from that fragile infant. Now when they both stood, they could look each other in the eye.

"Do you think the Princess found the traitors yet?" Teo repeated, pulling his goggles on his head.

"No," a new voice chimed in. "Not yet. But I will," Azula stood in the doorway of the workshop, arms crossed as she stared at Teo.

"Princess!" his son beamed at her and took a cautious step forward. The princess seemed taken aback. She had been gone for several months, and her presence in the workshop had been sporadic at best. This was the first time she'd seen Teo standing.

Azula looked from Teo to the Mechanist, "I need a balloon. And Teo's with me now." The princess walked up to Teo, looking him in the eye. "We're going to find my brother."

* * *

It didn't take long for Teo and Azula's personal servants to pack some supplies. Teo had even folded and stored his wheelchair in the corner. Azula hadn't been very specific to where they were going, or how long it would be. She just said they needed the balloon to pick up a couple of friends and then they would take her royal barge the rest of the way.

It didn't matter much though. This was the first time that he and Azula would be alone together for any length of time. Several thoughts swirled around his head as he prepped the balloon for takeoff. He already knew they were both too old to lay under a blanket, making up stories about dragons. He settled himself in the seat beside the rudder and rubbed his leg. He overexerted himself by showing off for his princess. He knew he should take off the braces now, let himself rest. But he knew Azula wouldn't tolerate weakness. And he didn't want to be left behind again.

"Are we ready?" Azula asked as she settled into the seat opposite of him.

"Whenever you are, Princess. We have enough supplies for a week."

"Good," she nodded, waiting as he stoked the furnace that fed the balloon, causing them to rise. He felt her eyes on him as he cast off the tether rope. "You're twitching."

Teo looked down, frowning as his legs were shaking. "That... happens sometimes."

He didn't notice her leave her seat until she knelt in front of him, undoing the buckles of his braces. She'd never touched them before, but she had watched him put them on and take them off enough times. "I can't use you if you hurt yourself so soon into our mission. No more walking unless I say so. Is that clear?"

"Y-yes Princess Azula. I'm sorry," he let her tend to him, not sure what to say to her tending to him.

"Besides, I don't know if I like that you're taller than me," she remarked as she resumed sitting on the bench across from him.

"I grew over the summer," he said lamely. "Where are we going?"

"To meet some friends. But first, we need to go to the circus."

* * *

_~ For those reading, thank you. I hope you're enjoying my story so far. I believe this has been my favorite chapter to write so far. Also, I think this is the only Teo and Azula (Tezula? Azo?) fic on this site. I've tried to make it realistic, even though it is still, at its core, a crack pairing. ~_


	9. Confrontation

Teo kept his eyes on his maps and compass. The girl, Ty Lee, wouldn't stop staring at him. He tried not to move as she reached over and poked at his knee. "Your chi is flowing weird."

"Ty Lee, don't bother him while he's flying the balloon," Azula remarked as she looked down at smaller islands of the Fire Nation.

"But he's so adorable! Where did you find him?"

"I'm right here," Teo said, though he was sure that he would just be ignored.

"He is the Mechanist's son. That's why he is able to fly this balloon for us. It's so much faster than boat," Azula replied. Teo was used to her ignoring him when others were around. After all, he wasn't even a peasant. He was her slave, but it was better than hiding in the back of the workshop.

"Ooooooh! You must be really smart. I can see it all over your aura. And so shy too," Ty Lee smiled, scooting closer to him.

"I... need to concentrate on navigating."

"Yes, Ty Lee, why don't you let him focus on it?" Azula snapped.

It didn't take long for them to get to port and rendezvous with Azula's royal barge. It would be the barge that would take them the rest of the way to the Earth Kingdom. And while Teo would love nothing but to try a longer voyage with the balloon, he didn't think he could stand being that close to Ty Lee for so long.

But since Azula had ordered him not to walk until he had recovered, he had to endure Ty Lee's staring as he reassembled his chair and sat down in it. He did his best to continue with his business and help load their equipment onto the barge. At sundown, they left port, and Teo didn't know what to do with himself once Azula retired to her room for the night.

Teo ended up staying on deck, watching sky. He was still too nervous about leaving the only home he knew.

"Hi," the cheery voice of Ty Lee startled him out of his thoughts.

"Oh. Hi. Sorry, I um... didn't hear you," Teo mumbled, looking down.

"I'm really good at massage," she said, also looking down at Teo's legs.

"Oh. No. Thank you. I was just walking too much." He put his hands on his thighs and pressed down, trying to control his unruly limbs.

"It's no trouble! And it'll probably help you sleep too. Come on, let's go to your cabin. It'll be real fast and then you'll feel better!" the strange girl chattered on as she walked along beside him.

Once they reached his small cabin, he pulled himself on the bed and Ty Lee helped arrange him into a comfortable position. He was a little nervous as the pink girl gently picked up one of his legs, but soon the stressed muscles relaxed and he sighed in relief. "See? I told you that you'd feel better."

"You did. Thank you. No one's ever offered to um... do what you're doing," he admitted. "Usually... usually they don't want to look at me, let alone touch me."

"That's silly. You're not so different, just a little broken," the girl continued to work his legs, her facial expression changing here and there. "Your legs have been broken a lot, haven't they?"

"Yeah," he nodded, looking up at the ceiling, "they were crushed when I was a baby. And they didn't heal right. They had to be rebroken when I started growing because they weren't straight."

"Uh huh. Nerve damage too, right? It's in the flow of your chi. But don't worry, it's nothing bad. I can tell you've found other, more creative ways to get around," she smiled.

"You're really good at that," he smiled a little as Ty Lee pulled the blanket over him, tucking him in.

The cabin door opened and Azula stood at the door, frowning at seeing Ty Lee there. "Ty Lee... you should get some rest. We have a tight schedule."

"Sure. Good night Azula," Ty Lee slipped out of the room past the Princess.

"What were you two doing?" Azula asked.

"She was just helping, Princess Azula," Teo said, glancing up at Azula, unsure why she looked so upset.

"You're my companion. Don't get that confused," Azula sat down on the edge of his bed and he was reminded of when they were children.

"I know. No one could ever replace you, Princess," he said, putting his hand on top of hers.

* * *

The city of Omashu was strange. While the air currents and winds on top of the mountain were amazing, Teo wasn't sure he enjoyed his current task. He sat atop the metal casket that held the king of the city. Azula didn't trust the mad earthbending king and it gave Teo a good height advantage if he needed to toss some of his grenades at the rebels.

"The view is quite stunning from up here, isn't it lad?"

"It's nice," Teo replied, knowing already that if he didn't talk to the old man, he would just keep up a one-sided conversation. And it gave them both something to do.

"So where in the Fire Nation are you from?"

"The capital," he wondered if it would have been better to hoist the king face up, but it was too late to change that now.

"Are you the son of a noble then?"

"What? No. Why do you ask that?" Teo's curiosity got the better of him.

"Only a rich family could afford the flying machines. You are the one that flew around the city when you got here on that flying bucket, right?"

"That was me. And it's a balloon. Powered by hot air. My Father invented it," he shook his head. He really shouldn't be telling him any more.

"Did he now? That's incredible! And the glider? It looks almost airbender. You wouldn't happen to be one, would you?"

"No!"

"That's interesting. Not a bender at all then?"

"No. I'm not. I don't need any special abilities to do what I do," he wasn't so sure why he was angry now.

"I have seven daughters and one son and absolutely none of them are benders," the king said suddenly.

"Why are you telling me this?" The wind had picked up and Teo could now see the group that Azula, Ty Lee and Mai had met.

"Oh look. There they are! We'd better stop yakking and get our serious faces on!" the old man laughed and it shook the casket.

"Hold still!" Teo snapped, readying his glider, in case the old man knocked him down.

"Apologies. I promise, I'm not going anywhere," the old king said. He sounded so sincere as they were lowered down to where the others were. After watching the confrontation between the trio of rebels and Azula, they were brought back up. Teo guessed that the rebels didn't accept the terms of the deal.

Teo grabbed one of the grenades he carried on a belt around his chest, ready for trouble.

"BUMI!" suddenly Teo wasn't alone up there as a blast of air knocked him off his perch. He twisted in the air, struggling to control his fall as he unfurled his glider. He turned back to whatever had knocked him down and was surprised to see another glider in the air.

He could hear Azula screaming, though he had to do a couple of fast turns to keep from getting in Azula's way. Teo dropped a grenade on his target, but the bald kid spun his staff and knocked it away before it exploded. A strong gust of air blew him back and again he struggled to regain control.

An airbender! Of course he would be offended by the glider. But a dead people couldn't hold the sky hostage forever.

Teo managed to land on top of one of the nearby shops, watching as the airbender and the mad king have words. He was surprised to see the old man earthbending his way back to Azula. He thought about trying to go after the rebels, but knew Azula would want to speak with him first.

* * *

Katara was the first one to speak, "Aren't you happy that another airbender survived?"

"He's not an airbender. He was just gliding. He has no spirit. And he works for the Fire Nation, so he's just... just corrupting the memory of my people!" Aang was upset. Not only because his old friend had chosen to stay prisoner, but because of that boy on the glider. He was good. Very good for someone that was unable to control the air currents. Aang had almost felt bad when he'd spun the red glider out of the air. He was relieved when he saw the boy land on a nearby building.

"But what does that mean? That the Fire Nation controls the air now?" Sokka asked.

"It means that we lost our advantage," the last airbender said sadly.


	10. Confusion

Teo shoveled another load of coal into the furnace, causing the flames to roar and the engines to continue to turn. This was how he controlled fire. By feeding it and tending it and harnessing its energy to power the machine they all rode in. Since he was here, Azula had declined bringing any of the firebending engineers that usually worked the furnaces. Instead he traded off shifts with a musclebound man with thick arms and a vocabulary that could fit inside a fortune cookie.

He didn't mind though, even if he could drive the tank train, he didn't expect Lo and Li to do the hard labor. In went another load and a hand signal from his large companion made him set his shovel aside. "Have a good shift." Teo slowly made his way out of the engine room, using the wall to keep himself upright as he hobbled towards the room that was just outside of the engine room. He let himself fall down on the cot, closing his eyes as he let himself rest for a moment.

"Are you ignoring me now, Teo?"

Teo started, nearly rolling off the cot and onto the floor as Azula hovered over him. "P-princess Azula! What are you doing in here?"

"I'm bored. And you're filthy! What are you covered in?" she wiped her hands off on her pants.

It was then that Teo realized his current state. His shirt had long been discarded and he just wore his pants and braces. He hadn't even taken off his boots or goggles yet. He was sweaty and covered in soot. He pulled himself up to a sitting position, but didn't bother to cover up. It would be pointless now. "Coal is dusty. And I know what you're going to say. But one coal shoveler can keep up our pace faster than two firebenders. And the engine room would be bigger. And that would mean no heated bathing chamber."

"Is that so? Speaking of bathing," Azula smirked and lunged forward. She grabbed Teo by his belt and threw him over her shoulder like a sack of turnips. "You are getting clean. We've almost caught up with them. I need you to be presentable."

Teo laughed a little, "Yes Princess Azula," she was stronger than she looked. She carried him to the bathing chamber and dumped him on the side of the bathtub and started filling it with water from their storage tank.

* * *

Azula glanced over at him, watching the play of his muscles as he bent over to remove his boots. He didn't look like the soldiers she'd seen all her life. His body had been honed by work and lifestyle. He was lean and wiry, but his arms were strong from carrying his weight. She didn't avert her eyes when he turned and slipped into the bath, watching his thin legs sink into the water.

"Are you in pain again?" she asked, knowing that walking usually took its toll on him. She would never tell him, but she admired that he didn't let pain stop him from trying to rise above his fate in life. He constantly pushed himself to be more. It was what they had in common.

"Yes, but I'll be fine," he said, grabbing a washrag and scrubbing the dust from his face.

The Fire Princess stripped down to her undergarments and slipped into the warm water with him. She didn't care that he was naked. A quick flair of her powers and the water warmed some more.

Teo looked up at her, his face finally clean of soot. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure you're ready when we find the Avatar. It wouldn't do if you slowed us down," it was a weak excuse, but Teo accepted it. She then picked up Teo's leg and set his foot in her lap. She looked down and concentrated, trying to copy Ty Lee's massage techniques. She was the Fire Princess. Such a trivial thing should be easy to master.

She bit her lip when she heard him stifle a sharp intake of breath. "Aza, stop..." the childhood nickname made her pause and look up at him. She expected fear, hurt and hate in his eyes, but was taken aback by the genuine warmth in the brown depths. He gently removed his legs from her lap and patted the bench beside him. "Come over here."

She didn't know why, but she did as he asked. He gently took one of her hands and pointed out the spot of his back that was bothering him. But with little prompting, she started attacking the knotted muscles, warming her hands as she did so. A victorious smirk played over her lips as he relaxed, grabbing the edge of the bath as he leaned forward.

"That's much better, thank you," he said quietly as she finished.

Again she didn't know why, but she pulled him close, putting her arms around him possessively. He didn't say anything, just leaned against her. "You're always so warm."

"Firebenders have a higher internal temperature."

"That makes sense. You create fire. The other benders use what's already there," he reasoned. He was always so logical. She liked that he didn't believe in spirits or auras or other foolish things.

"We are better, more refined than the others. Not many have the same drive that we do," she smiled, then ran her fingers through his hair.

He looked down and away, his cheeks turned red. "I should get some sleep before we catch up with them."

Azula was confused, unsure of why Teo was suddenly shy. She got out of the tub and grabbed one of the dry robes that hung on a shelf. She gathered her clothes and left him there. On the way back to her room, she ran into Li. "Teo needs his chair help getting out of the bath," she said, the statement came out harsher than she meant.

She was so confused with her own feelings. Teo belonged to her, of course she liked him. If she didn't like him, she would have been rid of him. But lately she found herself attracted to him in other ways. It was unacceptable. He was an Earth Kingdom peasant. More than that, he was a political prisoner, a slave to the royal family. He was a cripple. And all of those things meant that he was so far underneath her that he should be invisible.

So why did she want to keep him so close?

"Princess! The Avatar, we found them!"

She shook those thoughts out of her head and went to her room to change her clothes. She would take out all of her frustration on the Avatar and his little friends.


	11. Drilled

Teo lay on top of the drill on his stomach. He had a small lantern in front of him, and his latest invention resting over his right shoulder. He peered through the red lenses of his goggles at the group of earthbenders that came out to stop the drill.

"Teo? Take them out with your new invention. Ty Lee, Mai, make sure none of them escape." Azula ordered.

He touched a stick to the flame of his lantern to the fuse on his launcher. Once the powder inside the tube went off, it propelled one of his grenades into the air, the pin getting pulled on exit of the barrel. He watched the explosive arc through the air and land in the middle of the clump of Earth Kingdom troops. "Stupid," he muttered at them as he started reloading, shoving another packet of black powder and grenade into the tube.

After the explosion, he saw Ty Lee cartwheel into the rubble, making sure that no one survived.

Once the way was cleared, the former circus performer leapt up on top of the drill. She picked up Teo's lantern and offered her hand down to help him up. "That was fun!"

"Once we're inside the wall, I'll let you have a go at the launcher," he smiled as she helped him down the hatch and into his chair. War Minister Qin sneered at him, and he just slung the grenade launcher along the back of his chair.

A loud alarm sounded and Teo turned to look at the gauges on the side of the main panel. "We're losing pressure in section 23. We need an engineer out there."

Qin frowned down at him. "Why don't you go fix it then, Head Engineer," he drew out the title to mock him.

Azula stepped in, "Because I need him here, War Minister. I didn't bring you here for your opinions on the technology."

Teo turned his face back to the main panel. He wasn't sure why Azula was suddenly sticking up for him. Usually she was quick to ignore his presence or even deride or abuse him in front of others. And even though she'd been avoiding being alone with him since the bath on the tank train, she's been more vocal about his accomplishments. A quick glance at Ty Lee and Mai showed that they'd noticed it too. Strange.

It wasn't that he understood what had happened that day. Before Fire Lord Ozai took the throne, he and Azula hugged each other all the time. When she was lonely and couldn't sleep, she snuck through the hallways and climbed in his bed with him. They would hide underneath the blankets and tell each other stories.

But since Ozai took power, Azula had withdrawn from him. Of course he was still her companion and would do anything for her. Azula was his entire world. He loved his father, but the man had been content to keep him locked up inside the workshop. Azula had freed him. She was the one that let him see the world. And there was nothing he could do that could hope to pay that back.

Now though, she made excuses to touch him, even if half the time she just caused him pain. He was pretty sure she liked causing him pain. He looked down at the panel again, frowning when the pressure continued to build. "Where's that damn engineer!?"

"War Minister, an engineer was ambushed! His schematics were stolen!"

Qin was surprised, but Azula knew better than to think they would be unopposed.

"War Minister, a brace on the starboard side has been cut clean through! It's sabotage, sir!"

"Let's go, ladies! Teo, take charge here," Azula smirked and lead Mai and Ty Lee through the body of the drill to where the Avatar and his friends were. What Teo couldn't figure out was why they were trying to damage the structure of the drill instead of just continue to smash the pipes. Maybe the Avatar and his friends didn't know much about physics.

War Minister Qin almost exploded. "Alright men," Teo shouted, "Maximum thrust, keep the drill spinning... any more drops in pressure call them out. We need to get as far as we can before we have to stop to make repairs!"

* * *

Azula hated being dirty. Since they left the drill where it was, Lo and Li met them with the tank train to regroup. She'd been too distracted lately. She washed the mud off her arms, scrubbing until her skin turned pink. Once her skin was raw, the put on a robe and went to her room.

Failed. She never failed before she left home. And now she's failed.

Twice.

She tried to sleep. But it was far too quiet. The tank train was still. Hidden in a valley two days ride outside of Ba Sing Se. In the silence, all she could do was think. She could just hear her father's disappointment in her. And she didn't like thinking of what her father would do to her when she saw him next.

Sleep would not come, so she got up, tied her robe and padded down the corridor. The Fire Princess stopped before the small door next to the boiler room and opened it. She was greeted with darkness, but a flick of her wrist lit the lantern anchored to the wall.

Teo lay sprawled on his side, mouth open and his hair a mess. Azula knelt down beside him, but the empty glass vial on the table beside his cot. She was going to kill Mai for introducing Teo to opium. The drug was popular among nobles, and Mai had plenty of access to it, since it was cultivated in the Earth Kingdom.

"What am I to do with you?" Azula frowned as she rolled him onto his back. He didn't stir.

She pulled the thin sheet off of him and dropped it on the floor. She swept her eyes across her companion's form, checking him for injuries. He had several new bruises on his legs, and a burn along his arm.

"Aza..?"

Azula dropped his arm and golden eyes met brown. "You should've told me you were in pain."

"'m always in pain," he slurred through the drug.

She frowned and sat down beside him. "If you need a healer..."

"No. No, they just make things worse," his eyes glaze over and he's lost in a memory.

"Hey! No. How much did you drink tonight? Was that vial full?" She slapped him, pulling him back to the present.

"No, no, just finished it off. Couldn't sleep. I killed people today," he closed his eyes, but he wasn't asleep.

"Enemies. They opposed us. You did well, Teo," she smiled. She was proud of him. Of his invention.

"I killed them. I built a machine that kills them. Burns and shrapnel. If they don't die in the blast, they bleed out."

"Teo," she grabbed his hands, pulling him into a sitting position. "Teo, now our soldiers can be safe. A nonbender can safely fight an earthbender from a distance. You're saving lives."

He sighed heavily. "Then why do I feel... bad?" He looked up at her, looking lost. She'd seen this look before, on green soldiers back from their first battles.

"Because you're in pain, Teo. You push yourself too hard," she slipped further on the bed, straddling him. She ran her fingers along his bare chest.

"Aza..." he warned, his face a mask of confusion.

She ignored him and bent down, pressing her lips to his. Soft at first, then more demanding. She failed to take Ba Sing Se, but she would have one thing that she wanted. She needed to feel in control.

So she took it from Teo.

He didn't protest.


	12. Habits

Teo sat on a rock and smoked a pipe as Azula, Mai and Ty Lee changed their clothes. He had his back turned to them, but kept his eyes on the chi blocked and chained Kiyoshi Warriors. He'd picked up quite a few bad habits since he left home. Smoking. Opium. Drinking. His eyes slid to the side, catching sight of a lithe form in a green dress.

Azula.

He knew his father hated her. She was powerful. Dangerous. Intoxicating.

And he couldn't say no to her.

But that was fine by him. What else did he have to look forward to? Life as a slave to the Fire Lord? At least with Azula he could get out and do something. He could fly, which is all he ever wanted to do. And he would gladly kill for the privilege.

"Teo, some of my Royal Guards will be here to take the prisoners. But I need you to watch them until they come. It wouldn't do for the Kiyoshi to be seen with some... boy," she smirked.

"I understand, Princess Azula. And what do I do after they take the prisoners?" He looked up at her. Behind her, Mai applies white paint to Ty Lee's face. The circus performer can't stand still long enough.

"Come to the outside wall of Ba Sing Se. Send a signal up and I will come and get you," she smiled, reaching down to run her fingers through his hair.

He nodded and watched them finish with their makeup. He finished smoking his pipe and tucked it back in the pouch that hung off his belt.

"You think you can really keep us chained up like this?" One of the captured women said, glaring at him with contempt.

"Sure. You've already been beaten, and you're chained up. Besides, I've got grenades. And a knife," he pulled out the large knife to show them. He was thankful that current Fire Nation fashion consisted of baggy pants. His braces fit underneath them and just stuck out the bottoms like parts of his tall boots. Unless they looked closely, if he stayed sitting, they didn't notice he was crippled. It gave him an advantage now, since the women were less likely to rush him.

"You're disgusting. Do you really believe that monster bitch cares about you?"

"Of course she does. I don't think you'd understand though," He dug in the pack that he'd set beside his feet and pulled out an apple, using his knife to peel the skin off.

"But your'e Earth Kingdom! How could you betray your people for her?"

"The Earth Kingdom are not my people. I was raised in the Fire Nation. Because my 'people' sold my Father and I into slavery. So they can all burn for all I care," he shrugged. It was true though. The older he got, the less kindly he thought of his father's people.

"Slavery has been outlawed for several generations," the Kiyoshi leader seemed unsure though.

Teo shifted on his rock. He rubbed his right thigh, trying to relieve the twinge in the muscles. What he'd told Azula was true. He was, more often than not, in pain. His legs had healed crookedly and no amount of breaking and setting could fix them. Not to mention his muscles had atrophied quite a bit from sitting for most of his life. So trying to force his useless legs into movement came with a price. Mai had promised to get him some more opium once in Ba Sing Se, so all he had was a flask of spirits, which he'd been rationing.

The leader watched him. Her eyes looked strange beneath the smeared makeup.

"What is it?" he asked, turning his gaze to the young woman.

"If you let us go now, we can offer you asylum on Kiyoshi Island. You could be free and at peace," she said quietly.

Teo threw his head back and laughed. He laughed so hard, he almost fell off the rock. "You're funny. You really are. I don't want anything to do with you or yours. I have a home and a purpose. And that's all I need."

* * *

It was well after midnight when Teo lit up the night sky with some black powder and fine copper shavings. The blue burst lasted for only a few minutes and was followed by a pop. It only takes a few minutes for Azula to send up a matching signal. By the time, Teo reaches the gate, he's winded. He can barely move, and had to cut a sturdy branch down to use as a walking stick.

"Sit!" Azula ordered, pushing him into the wooden cart "chair" that she'd borrowed from a local hospital. She shoved a bundle of green and brown cloth in his lap, then pressed a water skin in his hands. "Drink."

He greedily drank the water and sighed, leaning back against the chair a moment. "Thank you."

"Get dressed. You need to blend in. And the best I can get you is a servant's position," she started pulling off his boots.

"Can this wait until we're inside?" he asked, looking around at the empty street that lead out of the city.

"No. You can't be seen looking like yourself. So, strip," she smirked as she let his boots hit the ground.

He sighed and pulled off his red tunic and replaced it with green. And soon enough, he looked like a local. Azula was stuffing his clothes and equipment in a large bag, which she slung over her shoulder. Once she was finished, she started pushing his chair into the city.

"Where are we going?" he asked, looking up at her.

"I've secured an apartment for us to use while in the city," she replied, happily pushing him through the empty streets. No one bothered them.

Not an hour later, she helped settle him on a futon in the small apartment. He closed his eyes once his head hit the pillow.

"You're not too tired, are you?" she asked, starting to pull off her green armor.

"It was a long walk. And I didn't have the high ground to fly," he said, still keeping his eyes closed.

"Teo!" Azula kicked him, causing him to groan and open his eyes.

The Fire Princess stood naked above him.

And it was some time before he was allowed to sleep.


	13. Catacombs

He had liked Ba Sing Se up until now. Spending his days shadowing the palace pharmacist, nights spent alone with Azula in the tiny apartment on the Lower Ring. They pretended to be other people that had nothing better to do but sit and chat. It was a game. Just a diversion to pass the time until Azula gained control of the Dai Li. Now he waited at the top of the Crystal Catacombs, a clear view of the cave that held the prisoners.

Teo had been surprised to see Zuko here. He'd long given up the thought of the banished prince. Despite his relationship with Azula, Teo hadn't had much contact with the former crowned prince. He couldn't really recall anything bad about the older boy, just that Azula took it very hard when he was banished. He curled his fingers around one of his grenades. He would be ready for the Avatar.

A slight rumble in the cave. The sound of the crystal shaking and earth moving pinpointed the rescue party's location. Teo stood on the edge of the cave in the cliff face and let himself fall forward. He only had one good shot, since there was no wind in the underground caverns. His glider unfurled behind him and he dove towards the familiar shape of the young Avatar Aang. Teo deftly pulled the pin in three grenades and threw tossed them. There's no way he could get rid of them all in time.

Artificial wind from the airbender pushed him up again. Teo used his mass to turn and go in for another sweep. The explosion was deafening. The cave shook, shards of sharp crystal fell, but somehow Teo had flown past. The dust swirled as the airbender prepared for another attack.

Teo was suddenly out of control. Spinning wildly in an artificial vortex. He slammed hard against the cavern floor, gasping for air. The edges of his vision turned dark. He couldn't tell if his glider was broken, or his back. He supposed it didn't matter too much. He was down. Pain shot through him when he tried to move.

"You're an abomination. Nothing but a derivative of my people. Are you the only one? Or are there more of you?"

Teo cracked his eyes open, peering up at the Avatar through dusty goggles. "More of what?" he rasped out, coughing with the dust.

"Those like you! Gliding pretenders!" A staff came down, dangerously close to breaking his nose.

"There's only me," Teo fought to breathe as the dust settled. He grunted as he used his arms to push himself off the ground. "Only ever been me. But why do you care, Avatar? The Air Nomads had no say over the sky, just like the Earth Kingdom doesn't own all the dirt."

"He does have a point, young Avatar," a familiar voice came out of the dust. Teo had trouble distinguishing it from the ringing in his ears.

"No! You can't just kill all of my people and then steal their ways!" The Avatar shouted.

Teo tried to push himself to his feet, but could only get so far. The brace on his right leg was broken. He wouldn't be surprised if his leg was as well. He reached behind him and grabbed the shaft of his glider, using it as a crutch. "Spare me, Avatar. You want to lecture me?" He pulled off his goggles to look down at the bald boy.

"I'm the last of my people!"

"And I'm a crippled slave. The only freedom I have is in the air," he was amazed that his two opponents had let him get to his feet. Though he saw the Avatar's companion. General Iroh had always been kind to him.

His head pounded. His voice sounded so loud.

"Y-you're... that's horrible," the Avatar looked at him with pity. Regret.

"This ends now Avatar. I know you can bend and all, but can you save yourself, General Iroh and your friends?" Teo pulled a grenade and leaned back against the wall. Below him he could see Zuko and the Avatar's companion through the top of the old prison cell. "Don't come any closer. Or I'll blow up your girlfriend."

"Teo, please," the General was on his knees, much to the confusion of the Avatar.

"General... My task is to keep the Avatar away from the waterbender. You should leave, General. Before Azula comes," he grabbed his belt, if one of the grenades went off, the rest of them would. The cavern may not be affected as a whole, but it would be a blow against the Avatar.

"Teo... there are things that you do not know," the General continued to plead.

"The Avatar turns himself in. Into... into the hole," Teo's vision blackened again.

"I'll do it. Please. Nobody has to die today," the Air Nomad set bowed, peacefully sitting beside the Dragon of the West.

"Just... wait. Wait for Azula," he felt himself slipping. Hands grabbed at him, taking away the grenade he had been threatening to activate.

A deep, gravelly voice whispered to him as he fell asleep.

* * *

"Is he?"

"No, Aang, he is just unconscious. I believe he hit his head during his fall," Iroh said as he lay the young man in a more comfortable position.

"We'll take him with us," the Avatar started.

"No. He must stay where he is. Now is not his time," Iroh looked sadly on the boy. For a moment, he saw another face. Another young man that didn't deserve his fate. "Come, we must rescue my nephew and your friend!"

The Avatar left the sleeping young man and bent a doorway into the crystal cell.

* * *

~ _Edited due to me not removing my silly summary. Thanks. I'm still looking for a beta reader, if anyone would like to volunteer.~_


	14. History

Teo slept on the way back to the Fire Nation. Azula visited him, telling him that she was proud of him. That he'd stalled the Avatar long enough for Zuko to kill him. By the time they reached the palace, Teo felt clear headed again.

As he sat in his father's workshop, it seemed so much smaller than it had before.

"Teo? Is there something wrong?" his father's voice shook him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking," he looked at the small powder scale in front of him and shook his head. He pushed away from the work table, the wheels of his chair rolled smoothly along the floor. That was a luxury he didn't think he would miss. "Where does your family come from?" There was a distinct line. Teo had never associated his family with anyone other than his Father.

The man known only as the Mechanist stopped tinkering with his latest project and sighed. He sat down on one of the benches to face his son. "I had a feeling that this day would come. Especially when I heard that Azula had gone to Omashu." The Mechanist sighed again, "My family comes from Omashu. I had seven older sisters. I don't remember my Mother too much though. She died when I was young."

"Oh," he didn't want to point out the similarities, so he reached for the first question that popped into his head. "Were... any of them benders?" Teo's voice was soft.

"No, my Father is an earthbender. But none of us children were. It was... quite a scandal at first. Until... until our Father, your Grandfather, encouraged us to use our own unique talents."

"Bumi? King Bumi is your Father?" Teo looked at his Father, placing the similar features. "But... why? What happened? How did you end up here?"

"After Sozin's war failed to die with Sozin, several of the higher raking leaders of the Earth Kingdom began striking deals with the Fire Nation," the Mechanist started. He moved to a high cabinet and pulled down a bottle of fire wine and, after some consideration, two glasses. "As you probably figured out, the Earth Kingdom isn't as organized as the Fire Nation. It exists as several small territories and fiefdoms, ruled by local governments that all tithe to the Earth King in Ba Sing Se," he sat on the workbench and poured them each a shot of the spiced wine. "When I was eighteen, my father, the King of Omashu, gave up hope that the Avatar would come and end the war. So he made a deal with Azulon."

"What was the deal?" Teo gripped his glass, cold dread settled in his stomach at his father's next words. The old man in the metal coffin coming to mind.

"Me. It was me, son. It was a very old tradition. Royalty would 'foster' another king's child. It was supposed to teach another point of view, but nobody cared about that. It was all about power. It was just a form of kidnapping. As long as I stayed here, in the Fire Nation, then Omashu would stay out of the war." The Mechanist looked down at his glass. "As part of the terms, I was to give up my name. Here, I was not the son of a king. I was just... nobody."

"What about my Mother?" Teo asked. It had always been a forbidden question. All Teo knew about her was that she died in the flood that crippled him.

"Azulon didn't know what to do with me once he had me. So he tried to make a soldier out of me. That... that didn't work. I had no head for it. No discipline. I would sneak off and hide in the forge. Eventually I was put to work there. Though when I managed to make the worst sword in the history of swords, I kept myself to tend the machinery. That, I was good at. I had those furnaces running more efficiently than ever."

"After the forge, I was sent to the Navy. Working with their engineers to get a faster ship. It was... fun. The engineers didn't mind me, and I didn't mind them and we all worked together. It took us... years. But on our first test voyage, we hit a storm up around the Northern edge of the Earth Kingdom. I'm not so sure what happened. I was swept overboard. And I ended up in a small village at the base of the mountains. I waited for weeks to be picked up. And nobody came."

"They just... left you there?" Teo asked.

"At the time, they thought I just drown. But I didn't know. So I waited around like a fool. Eventually, I had to find somewhere to live and feed myself. I ended up as a farm hand, plowing fields and cutting hay. And that's where I met your Mother, Ela," the Mechanist poured himself another glass, drinking it slowly.

"Ela was brilliant. Not like the other women in the village that were only concerned with looks and status. We first met when she caught me tinkering with an automatic plow. She would sneak out of her bedroom at night and we would spend hours working and talking. After a year or so of that, she told me that I'd better marry her," the Mechanist looked at his son. "When you were born, it was the happiest day of my life."

"So what happened then?"

"It seems that my tinkering got noticed by a Fire Nation spy. It wasn't that I was deliberately hiding from them. I just... wasn't about to travel the whole length of the Earth Kingdom in order to present myself back to Azulon. And it seems that my father had his own spies around. He didn't believe the rumors of my death. He thought that it was a ploy in order to break the deal."

"They both came after you?" Teo clutched his untouched glass.

"Yes. The Fire Nation soldiers got to me first, as I was heading back into town. I was questioned. But before I could be taken back to their ship, my Father attacked them," the Mechanist's eyes stared off into space. He was no longer in his workshop.

"My Father fought off seven men by himself and freed me. But during their battle... Father destroyed the dam. He didn't care about the town. He didn't care who he destroyed so long as he was right!" the Mechanist slammed his hand down hard on the table, needing a moment to calm himself before continuing.

"Once I realized that the flood was going to destroy the village, I ran. I couldn't get there fast enough. Our house had been destroyed. Ela... your Mother... you both were trapped under the fallen roof. But I couldn't.. I couldn't get to her in time," finally the Mechanist looked up at his son. "I thought you were dead too. Until I picked you up. I don't know how long we sat there in the ruins of our home. But... my Father was there. He realized what he'd done. So he gathered up all the survivors and told us to leave. Leave before the Fire Nation comes back. It was the least he could do."

Teo's mind reeled. It was even worse than he'd imagined. His own grandfather. The bargain, he could almost forgive. But to destroy a village... to kill so many innocents with pointless posturing. It made him sick. "How... how did we get here?"

"Azulon heard about the skirmish with King Bumi. It was... strange for the King of Omashu to cross an entire continent for just a raiding party. We were tracked to the Northern Air Temple. And I was taken into custody. I... I couldn't let them leave you behind."

Teo pushed his chair forward so he could wrap his arms around his Father, hugging him tightly. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, son."


	15. Seperation

Since returning from exile, Zuko had avoided his sister. At first it was because he'd gotten caught up in his Father's sudden approval. But then he'd been told that she wasn't feeling well. By the time he could tear himself away, Azula had been sent out again to brief the new governor that will be sent to Ba Sing Se.

He wasn't avoiding her on purpose.

"ZUKO! What right do you have doing this to me?!" Azula stormed into his room. He could feel that she was about ready to explode. Both in temper and temperature.

"What? What did I do?" he turned and held his hands up.

Azula was so angry, she was shaking. She waved a crumpled scroll in his face. "Did you know? Did you know about THIS?"

Zuko carefully straightened the scroll and unrolled it. He scanned the page and frowned. "No, I didn't. Teo was assigned to a regiment? Did he... ask to be?"

"NO! And even if he had, I wouldn't have let him! It's too dangerous for him without me to protect him. He's not a... a common soldier! I can't believe he would do this to me," Azula's rant had taken all the steam out of her. She sat down hard on Zuko's bed.

"He won't be on the front lines. Look, here it says he's been dispatched with the Engineers' Corps. He'll be stuck in a camp repairing tanks. You said he was good at that, right?" Zuko sat beside his younger sister, trying to sound comforting. He hadn't ever spent time with the Mechanist's son, so he tried to rely on rumors. And those rumors were that he was insane. Anyone that willingly jumped out of a war balloon must be on the cactus juice.

"I... I guess..." she said quietly.

Zuko took a risk and put his arm around his sister's shoulders. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked quietly. He hadn't seen Azula this upset since they were children. Not since their mother left.

"Come to Ember Island with me?" Azula jumped up from the bed, standing in front of him. "It'll just be like old times! I just have to run the new recruits through drills and we can leave right after!"

It was the only thing that his sister had honestly asked of him. The Fire Prince smiled. "Sure. Are Mai and Ty Lee coming? We could see 'Love Amongst the Dragons' again."

"Oh no. If I had my way, I'd burn that theatre to the ground!" She shook her fist, but both siblings erupted in laughter.

* * *

"Yaaaaaaaaahhhooooooooooooo!"

Not much could be heard after that, since the resulting explosion of the mountainside deafened those that gathered to watch. After the initial dust cloud settled, the crew searched the open field for their target.

There.

Rei was the first to reach the spot. He had volunteered this time and was ready with the usual kit. "You're a crazy one, kid."

Teo was covered in dirt and dust as he lay on his stomach at the landing site. "That's what they tell me."

The older man held out a water skin first.

"Is that what you were hoping for?" the young man asked between taking a drink and pouring the rest of the water over his head.

"Yeah, that's what we wanted. I know it ain't glamorous, but all this new stuff has to be built and stored. Somebody has to clear the land to make room. And not everyone has access to a damn earthbender to do it," Rei took the empty skin back and then held out his hands.

The young man unhooked the glider from his harness and handed it off, then struggled to his feet. "Yeah. Besides, people gotta work, right?" Teo was handed the glider again and had expertly folded it up, then used it to hobble to the temporary base.

"Exactly. There's more than enough regular people out there. Anyways, I got something for ya. From a friend of mine," Rei dropped his voice as they headed into the camp.

"Okay. Well, drop it by my tent and I'll get to it later," Teo said, heading towards the river to wash up.

Once he got back to his tent, Teo found the box Rei had left. Inside were several small items. Nails, screws, cogs, springs, a block of wax, fuses, twine, candle wicks, coins, and a girl's doll.

He made himself comfortable on his mat and set to work. His task had been simple: Build an explosive out of common objects. Let them get planted at the side of the road so that they would surprise an enemy passing by.

Teo didn't ask who they were for. He didn't want to know. Especially not while he carefully took the stuffing out of the doll to make room for the nails. His hands shook as he worked, causing him to stop and retrieve the small glass vial from the hidden pocket in his bag.

He lay back against his gear and looked at the small vent hole in the ceiling of his tent. He couldn't help think about Azula.

As soon as he reached camp, he'd sent a letter, telling her how he'd been requested to join this group of engineers that heard about his work. How he'd been told to pack his bag in the middle of the night. He'd only barely been able to tell his Father goodbye. And Azula had been away with her mentors at the time.

It was a temporary posting though. The demolition here wouldn't take long. Then, they'd told him, he could go home. It was only a couple of months. He closed his eyes as he felt his whole body relax. The effect of the opium had kicked in. A few minutes more and he could get back to work.

Once he was done, he would write Azula again.

She was probably too busy being near her father and brother to write back.

He just needed to finish this doll. Then he could go home and tell her himself.

Just... one... more...

Teo stitched the doll shut and pulled the yellow dress down over the ugly stitches. It looked passable, he supposed.

He carefully placed the doll in the box and set it aside. He should sleep. Just for a few minutes.

As soon as he closed his eyes, the shouting outside his tent startled him awake.

"On the orders of the Fire Lord, the traitor will be executed!"

His tent flap opened and Teo was pulled from slumber, staring up at the faces of five of the Royal Guard.

* * *

_~ The chapters keep on coming. I hope you are enjoying the story so far. ~_


	16. Distraction

_Welcome to Ember Island._

Azula sighed. She'd been running herself ragged since she came back home, trying to complete all of the tasks that her Father had given her. She'd never collapsed before either and it had scared her. Especially the doctor's whisperings to Lo and Li. The frowns that came after.

Her Father had only asked her one question. _"Were you forced?"_

She shrunk under his disappointed glare. No. It wasn't disappointment. It was... disdain. Disgust.

Teo had been sent away because she had been bad. And her punishment was to drink the fowl tasting tea that Li had made. Though she was grateful to Lo, who held her as she was sick that night.

It hadn't even been a rumor. There was no controversy, no spectacle. Ty Lee hadn't even known. Zuko hadn't seemed to notice. It was Mai that had. Mai had always known. She'd been the one that Azula had cried to. But it went no further. Ozai was too proud.

And they'd been sent here. The Princess needed to recover and the Prince, oblivious as always, would make sure she didn't misbehave. Though he was probably told something about honor. That's all he seemed to care about now.

It had started off well enough. Pretending to be just like everyone else. All those normal teenagers that could do what they want. They didn't have to care about the war. The world. It was nice to try. She always knew it'd be a disaster.

"We will _dominate_ the Earth!" Of course that scared him away. Nobody thinks of that. Only Azula. Years of pressure from her Father, Fire Lord Ozai, had shaped her into a tool. A weapon. There's hardly a girl left. Maybe she only used Teo to prove to herself that she was still in there.

She walked out to the beach to be alone, looking up at the sky. Of course she looked for that familiar red glider. And she never found it. She spotted her brother instead. "I thought I'd find you here," she found herself saying.

"Those summers we spent here seem so long ago. So much has changed," Zuko said, still gazing out at the ocean.

"Come down to the beach with me. Come on. This place is depressing," she said as she reached out and grabbed her brother's hand, leading him away from the old beach house.

"Hey," Mai greeted them first, hesitation in her voice.

"Where's your new boyfriend?" Zuko snapped, but Azula watched him sag. He was regrouping. "Are you cold?"

"I'm freezing!" Ty Lee announced. Of course she would be. She was hardly wearing anything. But it was hard to stay mad at her. Ty Lee had always encouraged the Fire Princess to be different. Ty Lee was the one that suggested keeping the blue fire as her signature. She had been so nice to Teo, welcoming him into their little group. Forcing him to interact with not only herself and Mai, but the crews and engineers they worked with as well.

Azula had been jealous, but it was because she didnt like to share.

"I'm so pretty. Look at me. I can walk on my hands. Whoo!" Azula must have been lost in her own thoughts when Zuko did a decent handstand. She snapped her focus to the present again.

"Yes, I'm a circus freak. Go ahead and laugh all you want. You want to know _why_ I joined the circus?"

"Here we go," Azula found herself muttering.

"Do you have any idea what my home life was like? Growing up with six sisters who look exactly like me? It was like I didn't even have my own name. I joined the circus because I was scared of spending the rest of my life as part of a matched set. At least I'm different now. 'Circus freak' is a compliment." Ty Lee was practically in tears, using her hands to wipe at her eyes.

"Guess that explains why you need ten boyfriends, too," Mai joined in.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Attention issues. You couldn't get enough attention when you were a kid, so you're trying to make up for it now," Mai droned on in her monotone.

"Well, what's _your_ excuse, Mai? You were an only child for fifteen years, but even with all that attention, your aura is this dingy, pasty, gray!" The younger girl spat, hurt in her eyes.

"I don't believe in auras."

"Yeah, you do not believe in anything," Zuko had to get his jibe in.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry I can't be as high-strung and crazy as the rest of you," Mai actually raised her voice for that one.

This was getting out of hand. These were... these were her friends.

"I'm sorry, too. I wish you _would_ be high-strung and crazy for once instead of keeping all your feeling bottled up inside. She just called your aura dingy. Are you gonna take that?" Zuko yelled, Azula inwardly flinched.

She felt her hands curling. The static building up in the air around her. She was losing control. Of the situation and her powers. She had to take it back.

"What do you want from me? You want a teary confession about how hard my childhood was? Well, it wasn't. I was a rich only child who got anything I wanted... as long as I behaved and sat still, and didn't speak unless spoken to. My mother said I had to keep out of trouble. We had my dad's political career to think about." Mai distanced herself from them, both emotionally and physically.

"Well, that's it, then. You have a controlling mother who had certain expectations, and if you strayed from them, you were shut down. That's why you're afraid to care about anything, and why you can't express yourself," forcing the words out of her mouth, no thought to how they'd sound, calmed the air. Azula felt less on edge.

"You want me to express myself? Leave me alone!" Mai ran off and Zuko ran off after her.

"Calm down, you guys. This much negative energy is bad for your skin. You'll totally break out."

Azula had almost controlled her breathing again when Zuko stopped and turned. "Bad skin? _Normal_ teenagers worry about bad skin. I don't have that luxury," he leaned forward. Invading Ty Lee's personal space. "My father decided to teach me a permanent lesson on my _face_!"

Ty Lee shrunk back, "Sorry, Zuko, I..."

"For so long I thought that if my dad accepted me, I'd be happy. I'm back home now, my dad talks to me. Ha! He even thinks I'm a hero. Everything should be perfect, right? I should be happy now, but I'm not. I'm angrier than ever and I don't know why!"

"There's a simple question you need to answer, then. Who are you angry at?" She felt the tension in the air again, but she wouldn't let it get to her. She would control this argument.

"No one. I'm just.."

Ty Lee cut him off "Yeah, who are you angry at, Zuko?"

"Everyone. I don't know."

Azula pushed in closer "Is it Dad?"

"No"

"Your uncle?" Mai.

The Fire Princess hesitated. "Me?"

"No, no, n-no, no!" Zuko clutched his head and

"Then who? Who are you angry at?"

"Answer the question!" she kept pushing, encouraging the others, inflicting the pressure she felt onto her brother.

"I'm angry at myself!" He snapped then, letting out the anger. She felt as if the temperature dropped.

"Why?" she was almost unaware of the question that came from her lips.

"Because I'm confused. Because I'm not sure I know the difference between right and wrong anymore."

Right and wrong. Was that still a thing? Did Azula still need to distinguish. All she needed to know that her Father was right. And anything else was wrong. It was how she'd always done things. Except... except with Teo.

"I guess you wouldn't understand, would you, Azula? Because you're just _so_ perfect," Zuko rounded on his sister.

"Well, yes, I guess you're right. I don't have sob stories like all of you. I could sit here and complain how our mom liked Zuko more than me, but I don't really care. My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right, of course, but it still hurt," Azula turned away from the others. "And... everyone I ever... loved... gets sent away."

"Azula..." Zuko was stunned, a look of shock and regret on his face.

"Father keeps sending them away. Sometimes, I think it's my fault," Azula stood up, rubbing her arms a little.

She didn't know who had the idea first, but she had a lot of fun destroying Chan's house.

* * *

_~ Apologies for a good deal of this chapter as the original dialog of the scene. But I enjoyed the fight at the end of The Beach so I decided to leave it in. Also, this chapter was going to have Teo in it, but... it got very long. Not sure when I'll update next because I'm on vacation now, but thank you for all the folows/favs! ~ _


	17. Traitor

The Royal Guardsman pulled Teo from the tent, dragging him by his foot. Behind him, one of the guards slashed open the tent with a sword. All of his meagre possessions were sorted through. The box with the doll was produced and taken away. Teo was drug out in the middle of the camp. Time seemed to slow as the guards beat him. Questions were shouted.

"Who gave this to you?"

He barely had time to open his mouth before a foot rammed down into his ribs, knocking the wind out of him.

"Who were you going to give this to?"

He felt something snap in his side as he was kicked again. He tried to breathe in, but he couldn't seem to get enough air. His vision started to darken and the shouting started to blend into a loud roar in his ears.

"Who are you working for?"

Teo couldn't focus. He felt a hand grab his hair and pull his head back. A face pressed in close beside his ear. "The Fire Lord will make you suffer for betraying his daughter."

The world went black.

* * *

He didn't expect to wake up again.

And when he did, he wished he hadn't. He wasn't even sure what he did wrong. Rei had been the only person he really had contact with. The others didn't really know what to make of him. They were friendly enough, but... he was too strange. What did they mean about Azula? He hadn't done anything to her.

Teo had been stripped out of his clothes and tied by his arms to a high tree branch. At least one of his legs were broken. And he had been given enough rope so that he could stand. Whoever had been in charge had done his research. Every breath he took was a struggle. He could barely see out of his left eye, it was swollen nearly shut. His shoulder was out of socket as well. He lifted his head to try to look up at his hands when a blow knocked his head to the side.

"The traitor is awake!"

He felt hands grabbing him, lifting him and then roughly, he was thrown to the ground.

It was hard to focus, he could only see the man at the right, who held him down with a foot on his chest.

Someone stabbed him in the leg, drawing a dull blade along his skin. He screamed. Maybe he screamed. It felt like it was happening to someone else. That he was far away from his body. His mind was in a war balloon and his body lay broken on the ground.

"Why don't we just kill him?"

"Because we're to send a message. The Fire Lord's orders were clear. This traitor deserves the slowest death we can manage. Seems he betrayed Princess Azula"

Azula... he didn't! Teo tried to turn his head towards the man that was speaking. He opened his mouth to speak, but another sharp pain took his breath away. His vision darkened and his whole leg ached. He couldn't figure out what happened. He couldn't see past the boot pressing down on is chest. Another pain rocked his body and he screamed his throat raw.

He saw one of the soldiers pass through his field of vision, covered in blood.

He felt cold, despite the warm summer day. The soldier who had held him down left.

Teo didn't have the energy to move. He just let his eyes slide shut as he heard the soldiers ride off.

* * *

Life returned to normal for Azula. Ember Island had been a nice diversion when she needed it. And she and Zuko seemed to be on better terms. The pair of them had just returned from sparring outside.

"You seem distracted, Zula," Zuko said as they passed through the halls in the palace.

"Do I? I guess I was just expecting a letter. Teo said he was going to write."

"They're probably on the move then. He probably doesn't have time or access to a messenger hawk," Zuko assured.

The pair came into the common room reserved for the royal family to find a wooden strongbox in the middle of the floor. Azula couldn't help but look. A sealed envelope rested atop the odd box. It was addressed to her. She broke the wax seal and opened the letter.

"The traitor has been apprehended and brought to justice as per the Fire Lord's orders."

She frowned and looked at her brother, "Traitor? Did you know anything about this?"

Zuko shook his head. "No. I didn't know there was one. I guess you should open the box?"

The Fire Princess shrugged and opened the box. The stench assaulted their noses, made them turn away. But curiosity made Azula peek inside. She pulled the red canvas away from the bundle inside the box.

It took her a long moment to process what she was seeing. It was a pair of legs.

She reached out and touched the word "Traitor" carved into the flesh. Dried blood flecked off on her fingers. She held her breath as she turned the leg over to see a familiar burn.

_"Teo look what I can do! I can make my hands hot!"_

_"Really?"_

_"Yeah! See?"_

_Teo yelped when his skin burned in the shape of Azula's small hand on his calf. He got taken to a healer and she got disciplined._

"Teo," Azula jerked back from the box as if it burned her.

"Azula?" Zuko tried to reach out to her, but she was already gone.

She ran. She couldn't even see where she was going and ran down at least one of the servants. At the end of the hallway, she pushed open the door to her father's study.

"Why? Why did you do this?" She cried, watching the back of her Father's head.

"What do I do anything, my daughter. Though I suppose I know what you speak of. Your little companion was a distraction. He already ruined you. Spoiled you for any legitimate marriage I can arrange. It is good that your brother redeemed himself, since you threw yourself away for any filthy Earth Kingdom slave that smiled your way."

"Father...I... no..." she felt as if he had slapped her.

"Do not worry, Azula, if you continue to work hard, you can redeem yourself. Soon you will forget about that useless cripple. I have already started making marriage arrangements for you. An older husband would be able to keep you in line, I'm sure. Once I rule all the lands and your brother becomes Fire Lord, you will settle down. You will not be an embarrassment to me."

She turned and ran again, out the doors and into the courtyard. After all she'd done. All her hard work and sacrifice. She'd been the one to kill the Avatar. She'd brought Zuko back home. She was the prodigy. Why? Why was she still not good enough for him?

She found herself entering through the plain door to the workshop.

"Princess Azula? What's... what is the matter?" the Mechanist turned from his workbench.

She couldn't help herself. She ran to the older man and flung herself at him, squeezing him tightly as she cried. She sobbed and choked out the words. "He's... dead. Father... Father killed him."

She expected to be hit. She knew the Mechanist hated her. That he resented the fact that Teo loved her. But... but she felt his arms around her, holding her as they shared their grief.


	18. Broken

The Mechanist was drunk. Ever since Princess Azula had cried herself out in his arms, he'd felt numb. And he intended to stay that way. He'd had a large stash of the "moons shine" hidden in the back corner of his workshop. He'd never been allowed to accept payment for his work, but "gifts" from grateful nobles and merchants that he'd been "assigned" to work for were common. He was currently working his way through some truly awful moon peach brandy that one of the lead engineers at the airship base had distilled. Was distilled what happened to brandy? Was it brewed?

He needed to find some good copper pipes and make his own whiskey.

Yes. Mechanics were threw now. Spirits, the drinking kind, that was where the future lay.

"Mechanist?"

The Mechanist looked over at his workshop door, expecting the Fire Princess again, but only seeing her brother.

Zuko.

"You've never had an interest in this place before," the Mechanist found himself bolder. It must be the brandy.

"No," the Crowned Prince said softly, "I never understood why Azula was so fascinated with this part of the palace. Not until I rode in a war balloon for the first time. But I think it'll be many years before I allow myself back inside a tank." The prince turned the unmarked side of his face towards the elder man and tried to smile. Awkward small talk. Polite Pleasantries. The Mechanist was used to such.

"Did you know my son, Prince Zuko?"

"I can't say that we had ever spoken. Azula kept him away from me," the prince said, taking the liberty of seating himself opposite of the Mechanist.

"Drink? It's not fit for a prince, but its the best I have," the Mechanist turned and grabbed an unused beaker off the bench behind him and sloshed in some of the awful stuff for Zuko. He had lied. There was half a case of good fire whiskey and some fine Earth Kingdom wines in the back, but good booze was to be savored. Bad booze... that was to forget. He laughed as he pushed the glass towards the Prince and again when the poor boy attempted to save face after the first sip.

"That's... that's awful. Are you sure it isn't tank fuel?"

"It may be, it may be. Why did you come here, if you didn't know my son?" the Mechanist poured himself another draught.

The Prince looked serious for a long moment. "I have a favor. Well, two favors and... and a promise, I suppose."

"Politics aren't your strong suit. Just say it and I'll let you know if it can be done. I'm too tired of the game so you'll forgive me for not playing."

"I need a balloon. I will be leaving tomorrow in secret. I also need something built," the Prince pulled a crumpled piece of parchment from his robes and slid it across the table.

The Mechanist unfolded it and turned pale. It was an old drawing of a glider. An Airbender's glider. "Why do you want this?" The Mechanist narrowed his eyes at the Prince.

"I am going to present it to the Avatar as a gift before I beg his forgiveness and become his firebending teacher. I will help him defeat my Father and end the war. I believe the world has suffered enough."

"Such words. I may have something you can have," the Mechanist got up and stumbled through the workshop. He moved through the old and abandoned projects.

"You do?" the Prince followed, picking his way around the various obstacles that the Mechanist had long ago learned to live with.

"Yes, yes, it's all here. Every prototype that I've ever created is here," the Mechanist shifted through a pile of schematics and old canvas designs for the original war balloon.

"I can't see how you can find anything in here," the Prince grumbled.

"I know exactly where everything is," the Mechanist grasped the wooden staff and whirled around with it, landing in a sloppy stance facing the prince.

"What is that? Is that an original?"

"No, no, a replica only. I may be a prisoner, but I'm not about to start dealing in contraband," tried as he might, the older man couldn't help but giggle a little manically as he held the Airbender's glider. "This... this is the glider that Teo and I built. In order to improve the design of an item, you must be intimate with that item, yes?"

The Fire Prince just stared with a blank look on his face.

"It has a compartment for snacks in it," he shook his head and tossed the oddly-weighted staff to the prince. "There you have it. You can leave now!"

"No, I need a balloon too! You promised"

"For a man leaving in secret, you sure are making a fuss!" the Mechanist resumed his seat at his workbench to finish his drinking.

"I figured that you of all people would plan for the eclipse tomorrow, old man," Zuko had dropped his voice and narrowed his eyes.

"Perhaps I did once. Perhaps I did. You should see to your sister. I can practically hear her wailing from here," the tired inventor picked up his glass and drained it.

"My sister?" the Prince blinked, "What about her?"

"Are you really so dense? Your FATHER sent my SON to be EXECUTED because AZULA LOVED HIM!" the bottle was thrown down on the workbench, creating a vicious jagged edge that was swung towards the naive prince.

Thankfully, the Prince did not unleash his fire on the grieving old man and instead hurried out of the workshop, never to return.

* * *

Ty Lee hugged her best friend close, trying to rock her back and forth to calm her sobbing. "Shhhh Azula, it's okay. Everything is going to be okay. I'm here and I'm not leaving you."

Once Azula had cried her heart out with the Mechanist, she'd confronted her father. And he'd called her a whore. Especially if she would let any Earth Kingdom slave touch her. Ty Lee hadn't been there, but she could only guess what went on after that from the Princess's torn robe and the broken look in her eye. "Perfect... perfect... I have to be perfect," Azula kept muttering.

The former circus freak had rescued her princess from the baths where she'd tried to scrub her skin off. Now she was close to getting her into bed. "Shh... sleep now, Azula."

The Fire Princess's eyes slid closed just when there was a steady knock at the door.

Ty Lee sprung up from her position in Azula's bedroom to answer the door in the antechamber. "Who is it?" she kept her voice hushed so as not to wake the sleeping princess.

"Its Zuko."

She opened the door a crack and peeked out. From his vantage point, she could only see the perfect half of the Fire Prince's face. "What do you want?"

"Where's Azula?"

"She just fell asleep. What do you want?"

"Ty Lee come on, just let me in."

"No. She doesn't want to be seen. She would prefer to grieve in peace. And she's already taken enough guff about it, so you don't have to lord it in her face!"

"What? Lord what in her face? What are you talking about?"

"Nothing! Just go away, Zuko. Mai should be back from Omashu by now."

"What are you trying to hid from me?"

Ty Lee debated. Zuko had always been oblivious. He'd never seen how much of a monster the Fire Lord was. How much Azula had been tortured by the man and his perfection. How poor Teo had been used as a bargaining chip and then was... put down like a lame ostrich horse. She felt fresh tears forming as she remembered Azula in the bath, that it finally dawned on her that she'd been pregnant when they returned and her Father had her baby terminated. And because of that baby, and the act that caused it, Teo had been executed.

These concepts were too advanced for Zuko, who couldn't see things from Azula's side. "Nothing Zuko. Azula feels like crap right now. She's not going to want to see you. Do you want to be burned?"

"I need to borrow her balloon," he ground his teeth.

"You mean TEO'S balloon? Its down by the docks, if that's all you want, then take it. Leave Azula alone!"

"Thank you, Ty Lee."

And the Prince was gone.

"Ty Lee? Who was at the door?"

Ty Lee turned to see Azula, the quilt from her bed covering her like the wrappings of an old nun. "Just Zuko. He wanted to start an argument, so I sent him away."

"Oh. Good. I don't... want to see him," Azula carefully sat down on the cushions on the floor. "He'd give me that look. That... awful pity look. I can't stand it. That's... that's the look you give to broken people."

"Oh Azula... you're not broken," she rushed to her friend's side and put her arms around her. "Not at all."


	19. Turning

Azula stalked the palace hallways, here mere proximity made the servants and palace staff shiver. She couldn't believe that she trusted them. Of course Mai had chosen Zuko. Oblivious, idiotic Zuko and his bumbling efforts at rebellion. Ty Lee's betrayal stung.

_They betrayed me because I stopped being perfect._

That thought shook her to her core. She had been weak and that weakness caused her to slip. She'd stained her soul and now everyone could see the cracks.

She avoided the workshop. Especially since the Mechanist was no longer there. He had blown up an entire store of supplies and sat there, waiting to be arrested. He claimed that since Ozai had broken their agreement, then he was no longer honor bound to restrict himself.

He was arrested and sent away. He may have been on his way to Boiling Rock as she was leaving.

The palace seemed so empty now.

_"Stop being so serious, Aza"_

"Life is serious, Teo. You can't just smile and make everyone love you."

_"You could, but then you'd lose all of that fear you've built up over the years."_

"Then no one will respect me."

_"There's a difference between respect and fear, Aza"_

Azula sat down on the stool in front of her vanity. Behind her, Teo stood behind her. Mocking her with his hovering. He'd only been that graceful in the sky. Perhaps in death he was always flying.

Teo was always there now. Just over her shoulder. She caught glimpses of him in mirrors. Sometimes he sat in his wheelchair. But lately he'd been walking, though she'd never caught sight of his legs. Late at night though, he'd appear cradling a red bundle of blankets. When he brought the baby around, she always pulled the pillow over her head, blocking out the cries.

"I'm not in the mood today, Teo. Mai and Ty Lee are gone now. I'm all alone."

_"But I'm still here, Aza. I'll always be with you,"_ he smiled as his imaged faded from the mirror.

Her bedroom door opened and a servant stuck her head in, "Princess? The Fire Lord wishes to see you for the eclipse preparations."

* * *

Bumi arrived at the White Lotus camp covered in dirt. He had finished running the Fire Nation out of his city and then came here. There was more work to be done, and he wasn't about to waste time with council meetings. His advisors knew what to do.

He quietly checked in with the others. Piandao usually had news for him. "Piandao my old friend, please tell me we have good news?"

"No good news, I'm afraid. It is not good all around. Firstly, the invasion that the Avatar and his friends put together failed. The fleet was destroyed and most of the leaders are now in high security Fire Nation prisons," the old sword master said as he handed Bumi a tunic.

"It was not the right time for the Avatar to act," Bumi changed his clothes. It was nice to get out of the clothes he'd destroyed while he liberated his city. "What else should I know about?"

"We've received word that your son was locked up. We knew it was coming, we have an agent in the prison to keep an eye on him," Piando said, waiting for the old king.

"That is of no surprise, what about my grandson?"

"Ozai had him sent into the Earth Kingdom, then sent an execution squad after him."

Bumi froze, a sudden chill falling over him. He felt like it took an age before he could find the words to ask the question on his tongue. "Is he dead?"

"He was maimed, tortured and left for dead. But, our agents got to him in time. He is... resting."

"Take me to him."

Bumi was lead through the camp to a larger than average white tent while Piandao gave him the details. The old king hesitated before going inside. The sun lit the tent, bathing the sleeping occupant in a cream colored light. Teo lay on the cot in the corner, covered with a light sheet. He looked so pale, which made the dark bruises on his skin stand out in contrast.

The tent smelled of sickness and healing salves. Of blood and freshly sterilized bandages.

King Bumi sat down hard on the stool beside the cot and honestly looked at his grandson. He didn't have the opportunity to just... look at him at Omashu. Teo had the unruly brown hair that Bumi's mother had passed down to the line. He picked out the traits passed from his son, and decided which had come from the boy's unfortunate mother. He decided that this line of thinking was taking him down a dark place and tried to focus on the positives.

At present, Teo was alive. And he was out of reach of the Fire Lord.

The negatives were hard to ignore though. Teo had been exiled from the only home he remembered. The Fire Lord had tried to execute him, for unknown reasons, which was worrying. He had been beaten and tortured and left to die and had been unconscious the whole time, so when he woke, it would not be pleasant.

And this wasn't even touching on the state of his legs. Bumi had seen blind, one-armed half-trained butcher make cleaner cuts. Piandao explained that it had taken their best waterbender healer and a surgeon to stave off the worst of the infection and save what was left of his legs, which had been hacked off above the knees.

Bumi was interrupted from his dark thoughts by a stirring from the cot. "D-dad?"

"No, I'm sorry, Teo. Your Father is not here," Bumi said, gently taking his grandson's bandaged hand.

* * *

In the Western Air Temple, Zuko cautiously approached the Avatar's group. "Right. Well, uhhh... anyway... what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed, and I, uhhh, I'm good now, and well I think I should join your group, oh, and I can teach firebending to you." Zuko then knelt down and present the glider staff to the Avatar.

"Please accept this as a token of my sincerity."

Aang reached for the staff and looked it over, then tapped it open. His face was unreadable for a moment as he admired the craftsmanship. "Zuko, did you make this yourself?"

"Uh... no, I... I got it from the Mechanist," Zuko said sheepishly.

"Who's that?" Sokka asked.

"He invented the tanks and the war balloons and the airships and... that drill from Ba Sing Se."

"That's... crazy. Why did he make this then?" Aang asked, checking the glider for any fatal flaws.

"He built it for his son. You met him already. Teo? Used to hang out with Azula."

Aang's expression darkened, "Yes, we've met before."

"Well, he didn't need it anymore, so... I figured... you would put it to good use," Zuko finished lamely.

"What else does that guy have then? Some kind of rocket strapped to his back?" Sokka muttered.

"Nothing now, he's dead."

The Avatar's friends were silent for a long time before Aang spoke again. "I accept you as my new firebending master, Zuko."

* * *

_~ Thank you all for the reviews! These past few chapters were hard to write. I struggled a little bit on what to do with Teo and Azula and if I had gone too far. Considering that I've gotten more reviews and follows/favorites, I'm guessing that I must've done the right thing. ~_


	20. Traded

Teo had few visitors since he woke in the White Lotus camp outside of Ba Sing Se. Mostly it was Bumi that sat beside his bed and told him stories. Most of the stories were of his Father and his Aunts when they were children. When the healer had told him he was well enough to sit up, Iroh had "kidnapped" him by finding a wooden wheelchair and bringing him outside for a Pao Sho tournament.

The days blended together and his opponents had been switched out by the various old men that hung around the camp. Not that he minded, the game took his mind off of other things like Azula and his injuries and that his Father was in prison. He was just about to head back to his tent when there was a commotion in the camp.

Teo found himself alone once most of the old masters met to greet their "guests", Iroh being the only exception. The old man stopped and smiled, bending over the board and moved a single earth tile, trapping one of Teo's fire tiles. "Perhaps you should go back to your tent for now, Teo," Iroh said quietly, glancing towards the camp's informal entrance.

"I could use a nap. Pakku's playing always puts me to sleep," he smiled and pushed the wheelchair back to his tent. He was still technically using the healer's tent, but he was the only injured person currently in the camp. He gingerly swung himself onto the cot and lay down, the effort of being awake for so long taxing on his still healing body.

He hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep until he woke to someone humming in the tent beside him.

"Who's there?" he croaked, throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the brightness that came along with being conscious.

"It's alright, my name is Katara. I was just helping to restock the medical supplies. Needed something to do," she seemed to ramble a little bit.

Teo cracked open an eye and moved his arm slowly. She was staring at him. At the wheelchair. The space on the bed that should be occupied. "You get a question if you answer one first," he said, scrubbing his face with his hands, making an attempt at wakefulness.

"Oh. Alright, sure."

"Why did you come here? I haven't seen you here before."

"Oh my friends and I were... we were looking for somebody. And we found this camp instead," she walked over cautiously, then took a seat on the stool beside his cot. The stool his grandfather usually occupied.

"Who were you looking for?"

"I thought it was my turn?"

"Right, sorry. Go on ahead."

"What happened to you?"

"I survived an execution squad. I'm... I was told that my legs were mailed to... my family. As a message," the words spill from his mouth easily.

"We were looking for Iroh. Well, we were looking for Aang first, then when we couldn't find him, we thought of looking for Iroh," she filled in easily. He saw her mentally going over his still-healing injuries, she couldn't keep her concern and pity from her face. She must be a waterbender.

"You look familiar," she said suddenly, then her expression darkened. "You! You're one of Azula's cronies! But Zuko said you were dead." The waterbender took an offensive stance, but the confusion on her face remained.

Teo just looked at her like she was insane. He was exhausted and in pain and this girl just wanted to try to pick a fight. "Didn't you just hear me? The Fire Lord tried to kill me!"

The tent flap opened, revealing two silhouettesagainst the sunlight. "Katara! I'm sorry for running away, I... what's going on?" The Avatar looked at Katara and then to Teo and his brow furrowed.

Teo opened his mouth for a truly Azula-worthy sarcastic remark when the tent flap opened again, revealing Bumi with a tray.

"Oh! Aang! And Katara too! I see you've met my grandson, Teo. He's been staying with us for a while. Isn't it nice to have family around?" Through his extra cheery tone, there was an undercurrent of command. The old king would not broke argument. "Now, why don't you two run along and let Teo have some dinner?"

The Avatar and waterbender simply nodded and left. Though Teo could tell that they were full of questions. He hoped that they would ask someone else.

"Thank you, Grandfather," Teo said quietly, carefully sitting up on the cot. He grit his teeth and held his breath as pain shot up the end of one of his legs.

Bumi was quiet as he set the tray of soup and tea on the table and resumed his seat on the stool beside the cot.

Thankfully he didn't speak until Teo let out a shaky breath and lay back against the pillows. "How are you feeling today?"

"I was alright this morning, then I tried to sleep. I didn't expect... guests," Teo accepted the bowl of soup that was handed to him and slowly started eating.

"Honestly, I was surprised it took them so long. The comet arrives tomorrow."

"Really? So soon?" Teo frowned, though couldn't find fault with the date. He had been unconscious for at least two weeks. The world didn't stop for him to nap.

"I'm afraid that time is not always on our side."

Teo nodded and finished his dinner quietly. "What will happen tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, the old masters and I will take back Ba Sing Se. The Avatar and his friends will deal with Ozai. He has... declared that Azula become Fire Lord while he conquers the rest of the world and rules as... the Phoenix King."

"The Fire Nation loves the idea of the Phoenix. When their legends aren't about dragons, they have to do with phoenixes. If... Azula is Fire Lord... that means... I can go home?" Teo had little hope, but the plea slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

"I had hoped, that you would want to return to Omashu with me, once Ba Sing Se has been liberated," the old king said softly, finding something very interesting in the dirt on the floor.

"Oh. I see," Teo carefully lay back down, careful not to jar the ends of his... stumps. He had essentially traded one disability for another just as he had been traded from Fire Nation to Earth Kingdom. He had hoped that he would be finally free, but he now just had a different master.

"Once you are well enough to travel, we will speak with the Fire Lord and your Father."

Teo nodded, but he didn't expect that meeting to ever happen. He closed his eyes and dreamed of Azula, beautiful and powerful in the robes of the Fire Lord.


	21. Alone

The palace was empty.

They were all gone.

There were no servants.

No guards.

The Dai Li had vanished.

Azula watched her hair fall to the floor, and then her eyes flicked to the presence in the mirror. Her mother stood there, disapproving.

"Maybe you should make yourself useful for once!" she hissed at the older woman.

_"Now, Azula, that's no way to speak to your mother,"_ the not-Ursa said.

"I can speak to you however I want now. You're the one that left! Did you even consider that Grandfather was lying?" More hair fell to the floor.

_"I did what I had to do to save my children."_

"No, you did what you thought you had to do in order to save ZuZu. You didn't think about what would happen to me! Or the Fire Nation! You never knew how to play politics. Serves Father right for marrying an... an actress."

_"Azula, that's not fair. You know how convincing your Father is. Besides... you were the one to tell me of Azulon's plan in the first place."_

"I was just a child! Would you really take the word of a child on something so important? ZuZu may be weak and useless but if Iroh can get dethroned by having no heirs then killing one of Ozai's would make no sense at all!"

_"I did what I had to do to save my children."_

"ZuZu. You did it for ZuZu. I'm too much of a monster!"

_"Aza..."_

"Teo?" She looked to the other side of the mirror to see Teo behind her, holding that horrible bundle in his arms. This was the first time the baby had appeared in the daytime.

_"We didn't want to miss your big day. Of course the wedding will have to wait until your Father is finished with the Earth Kingdom."_

"Wedding?"

_"Ours of course. This little one can't be an official heir of yours unless we're married."_

"But... we can't."

_"Why not?"_

"Because you're..."

_"A peasant slave?"_ He looked down, like he was disappointed.

"No. Teo, you're dead. We can't be together because you're dead."

_"How do you know that I'm dead, Aza?"_

"Because Father had you executed! It's okay though... once... once I'm Fire Lord, I'm going to change things. I can do whatever I want. No one will be allowed to leave me again."

Another knot of hair fell to the floor and Azula left the mirror, drawing herself up in her formal robes.

"No one will ever leave me again."

There was no one left to leave.

* * *

Awakened in the middle of the night, Teo had come out of his tent to help with the liberation efforts. He had taken over the Pao Sho table, sweeping the pieces aside as someone handed him glass bottles, small ceramic pots and several types of powders. His hands stilled as he thought back to the deadly doll he had constructed in the engineer camp, but quickly shook that out of his head. He had been given a task and he set to it diligently.

"What are you doing?"

"Flash grenade," he carefully measured out the different powders that Jeong Jeong had procured for him.

"Will it be used to hurt somebody?" the Avatar's soft voice seemed worried. Teo couldn't help but sigh.

"Damage should be minimal. It's used for surprise mostly. Stunning enemies. Stopping mobs, crowds of people. It's more bright and loud than anything else," he leaned forward a little, but overcompensated and had to steady himself on the edge of the table. He would have to get used to being top-heavy.

"Teo..." a deeper voice joined the first.

Teo looked up from the table and saw Zuko standing behind the Avatar. "Yes, Prince Zuko?" the title fell of his tongue out of habit. Both the Avatar and Zuko winced.

"Azula had nothing to do with it," Zuko said quietly, looking anywhere but Teo. He seemed like he had rehearsed something, but forgot the words at the last moment.

"I know. I... think I figured it out. She's a princess and I'm... a slave. A bartering tool between two political entities having a pissing contest," he looked down and tried to resume his measurements.

"What? But... Bumi said you were his grandson?" the Avatar asked.

"Slaves have no titles in the Fire Nation, Avatar. Any familial titles were stricken from the records as soon as the exchange happened. Even more so since I was unrecognized as an heir due to my Father's secret marriage. Not everyone can just waltz back into power and there be no repercussions," Teo explained, pouring the contents of his scale into the ceramic bottle.

"Do you love her?" Zuko asked, curiosity tinged his voice. Like he had not considered his sister capable of being loved.

"Of course I do. It was just... improper to accept her advances. But I was weak. And the Fire Lord found out. I knew he knew as soon as I was sent away," he added a fuse to the bottle and then sealed it with fresh clay and a stopper and set it aside to make another.

If Teo had looked up, he would see the blush that turned Zuko's face to match his scar. "You um... and... Azula... that's..."

"Wait," another voice interrupted, a young but loud girl had stepped up beside the table. "This guy and CrazyPants? That's something I'd pay to see!"

Teo set down his tools and put his hands flat on the table. "Azula was the only person that ever spoke to me like I was a person, without pity or guilt. She believed in me, in everything I put my mind to do. She allowed me to do it, even though I was nothing more than a slave. All she ever asked me was to tell her stories. To show her that I could... fly. And to hold her at night when we were alone. I was the only person in her life that couldn't leave her," Teo glared at Zuko. The two exchanged a look, and Zuko looked away first.

After returning to his work, the Avatar and the former Fire Prince found other things to do. The girl remained. "Hey um... I didn't mean what I said earlier."

"No, you did. But that's okay. I know most people just don't... understand," he plugged up another clay grenade and started on the next.

"Well, I might not be able to understand the exact situation, but I understand not being understood. Um, anyway, if you need anything, just yell for Toph. I need to talk to a couple people before we leave," she turned and left him alone.


	22. Peacetime

Azula couldn't stop sobbing and Zuko and that waterbending bitch continued to stare at her. He tried desperately to stop and just proceeded to start hiccuping fire until several men came and took her away. Maybe she was the one that was supposed to leave all along?

She closed her eyes as a pungent liquid was poured down her throat. She'd heard them whispering of Mountain Springs Asylum. That couldn't be right. She wasn't crazy. She just saw people that were dead.

The last thing she saw before the carriage door shut was her Father, his arms crossed and a look of disapproval on his face.

Zuko had taken her place. He had defeated her, even though he cheated. Of course, she technically cheated too, but that was another matter entirely. Why should ZuZu get to keep that water peasant girl when she couldn't have Teo? That was just... unfair.

An old doctor prodded her and she felt the dull ache of being chi blocked. If Ty Lee was an artist at chi blocking, this man was a fumbling buffoon at it.

Ty Lee would have never made it hurt so much. Nor would she have left her internal fire on. Azula felt like she was burning up on the inside as she was wrapped in a jacket, the sleeves strapped and buckled behind her.

She felt delirious as she was walked into the building. When had she gotten here?

Strong hands sat her in a chair and started pushing it.

It had to be Teo's chair.

She could still see the blood all over it.

She screamed.

And screamed.

And continued to scream until someone picked her up and carried her into into a small room with a threadbare cot.

"Sure glad ZuZu sprung for the best," she found the words spilling out of her head as she got drowsy.

She curled up on the fireproof blanket and tried not to burn from the inside out.

* * *

Bureaucracy did not speed up after the war ended. In fact, it ground to a halt as hundreds of clerks and minor officials tried to re-organize their offices and the country into a peacetime economy. The Fire Nation was in utter chaos, which was only slightly worse off than everybody else. Bumi had not been pleased to learn that his son had been "Misplaced" among the population of Boiling Rock. They did not know where he had been sent to. His arrest warrant had been mis-filed.

Six months after Zuko had become Fire Lord and the Mechanist was still in prison.

Bumi sighed and stepped out onto the balcony of his palace, watching his city from his high vantage point. He was not without purpose though. He was waiting for a message from Aang. Hoping that the Avatar could take some time out of his schedule for a personal request.

"Grandfather?"

The old king smiled and turned, seeing his youngest grandson (he was not counting his great-grandchildren at the moment) enter the room. His wheelchair glided along the polished tile quietly as he came to a stop nearby. "Yes, Teo?"

"I was wondering if you had an answer. For what we spoke of before," he said respectfully. Even after six months of living in the palace, Teo had not broken his habit of speech. Many of his advisors loved how polite the boy was. But it just made Bumi sad.

"I have. But I'm afraid it isn't possible just yet. I had one of my soldiers track down the village where you were born. There are some living there still and they may remember your Father being with them. I have put in an official request to the Office of War Prisoners of the Fire Nation for papers documenting yours and Lumi's arrival in the Fire Nation, but it doesn't seem that anybody can be bothered to do anything official about it. I have been able to grant you citizenship of Omashu temporarily, but travel is still restricted between nations." He sighed and sat down on the bench on the balcony. "No one seems to know where they put your Father."

"Oh. So when you go looking for him yourself, you'll be leaving me behind?"

"I... yes. I'm afraid I have to. If you like, I can arrange for you to stay with one of your aunts? Or a cousin? They all want to get to know you."

Teo just shook his head. Though officially, Omashu had been taken over, several of Bumi's son-in-laws and grandsons had been involved in the rebellion and the war in other parts of the Kingdom. A few of them had been hostile to the idea of Teo and Lumi's part in the Fire Nation's war effort. But despite his upbringing, Teo had been very sheltered all his life. He did not know how to interact with regular children his age.

"I have a present for you."

"Why?"

"Isn't it your fifteenth birthday?"

"Oh. I suppose it is today."

Bumi smiled and turned, heading back through the throne room. He had learned his lesson early on to not grab onto Teo's wheelchair. The pair of them went down the long hallway and Bumi opened the door to a room at the end. It was a large workspace, which had tables set at both a sitting and standing position. Large glass windows along the opposite wall, with a wide balcony just outside. "I had this workshop created for you."

"Workshop? Why?"

"Because I know how much flying means to you. And you need space to build and design your new glider. If it is not to your liking, we can change it."

"No... no, it's... it's great. I just. Haven't felt much like flying in a while," Teo ran his hand along the pristine wood of the nearest workbench.

The old king turned and sat down opposite his grandson. "I know there have been a lot of changes in your life recently. But things will get better." Bumi gently lay his hand on Teo's arm and received a quick nod. "Now... tell me what we will need to build first?"

"I'll... I'll make a list."

* * *

Azula had been good. She had been allowed to sit in the garden for at least two hours a day when the weather was nice.

Today she lay in the grass and stared up at the treetops. The grass made her head itch. A lice outbreak had forced the doctors to shave all the patients' hair. Azula had been no exception. Her head was covered in short, dark fuzz. Her clothes had thick straps on them. They laced in the back instead of the front. That was how they had kept her from removing them easily.

With her bending blocked, she felt hot all the time. Like there was nowhere for the fire to go, so it consumed her from the inside out. She did not have any visitors since she came here, real or imagined.

It was like the entire world had forgotten about her. She wondered if this was like being dead.

"Azula? It's time to go inside now," a nurse stood over her, blocking the sunlight.

"It's too early," she sat up anyway, letting the dizziness wash over her. She hadn't felt right since she arrived here.

No, that was untrue. She hadn't felt right since she had returned to the Fire Nation.

"You have a visitor today."

"Who?"

"Please Azula, we don't want to keep him waiting."

Curiosity kept her quiet as she followed the nurse. Since her admittance, they had avoided sitting her in wheelchairs.

She sat down at the table in the small room, ignoring the two guards that watched her every movement.

"Azula?"

She shook herself from her thoughts as the man stepped inside.

"Mechanist?"


	23. Friend

Ty Lee skipped through the hallways, despite the fact that her armor was not made to skip in. She was late. Much later than she was supposed to be, but she couldn't help it. Who said it was a bad idea to ride the mail chute down? She reached her destination and stopped to straighten her armor. In the metal part of her fan, she checked her makeup. Now that she felt she was ready, she opened the large door in front of her.

She picked her way through crates and various tools and things to find her query. She was not disappointed to find a bright orange aura to greet her. "Teo!"

He had been sitting on top of the workbench and nearly lost his balance when she startled him. "Ahhhh!"

"Whoa!" She giggled and ran over to her old friend and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She was steadying him and hugging him!

"Ty Lee? Is that you? What are you doing here? Dressed like that?"

The Kyoshi Warrior untangled herself from Teo's shoulders and sat up on the table with him. "Yes, it's me! I heard you were here and I just had to come visit! And I'm a Kyoshi Warrior now. I made a lot of friends in prison," she nodded, smiling to cover up the badness. Not all of those memories were pink and happy.

Of course, she hadn't expected to see Teo like this. Well, she partly did. She expected him to be working on something strange and wonderful and maybe a little scary, but to know that the rumors were true, that made her feel wobbly in her stomach.

"Well, alright. What do you want to do now that you came all the way here?" he smiled and bumped his shoulder against hers. She smiled back at him. Teo was easy to be happy around. He was the brother she wished she always had.

"I don't know, what's good around here? What about food? I'm starving!"

They both laughed and Teo took her down to the kitchens, where they raided the pantry of the best snacks and headed to one of the many lounges in the palace.

"So where is everyone? It's so quiet around here," Ty Lee said, stripping the outer layer of her armor off before she sat down.

"King Bumi... Grandfather... is traveling to the Fire Nation to negotiate my Father's release from Prison. They claim they can't find him. I'm guessing he's escaped," Teo settled down on one of the comfortable couches, munching on one of the few remaining bags of fire flakes left in the city.

"It's so different than the Fire Nation palace. Not too many servants either," she snatched the other bag of fire flakes and started eating. Earth Kingdom food was too bland. The snack made her a little homesick.

"I know. It's hard to get used to."

"There are a lot of rumors about you, you know," Ty Lee said, watching Teo's flickering aura.

"Did you... were you there with Azula? I was told she got a... package," he frowned, pressing his hands against his thighs.

"She did. It was... awful. I wasn't there when she opened it, but... they were wrapped in the cloth from your glider. You're lucky they went for your legs instead of your head," she said.

"I suppose. It's... different though. They still hurt," his aura dimmed.

"Your chi is all twisted up," she reached out, tracing the lines of his chi in the air. She knew that nobody else could see it. She was the only one. She'd been the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. It had meant something to the old Fire Sages. It was why she'd been paired with the Princess as school.

"I miss her. I can't even go to the Fire Nation to see her with travel being restricted," he said. She watched his aura dim a little more.

"I haven't seen her either. I was told she's not allowed visitors where she is," she picked up a pastry, one of several that they'd brought from the kitchens.

"Does she know I'm not dead? I mean, I'm sure she thought... I mean, Zuko did. When I saw him right before the comet," he picked at a bunch of grapes, pulling the fruit off the stems absently.

"I don't know." Ty Lee moved over on the couch and put an arm around Teo's shoulders. She didn't like seeing him this sad. It was too similar to when Azula couldn't stop crying. "If you write her a letter, I'll make sure it gets to her. I'll make Zuko give me authority to go there!"

She smiled when he brightened.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Azula wanted to reach out and touch him to make sure he was real, but the guards didn't allow touching.

"When I ...left... the prison, I realized that I didn't have anywhere to go. I heard you were here," he said matter-of-factly.

"But what will you do? You could go back to the palace. I'm sure ZuZu would let you do anything you want," she pressed her palms against the table, leaving sweaty prints there. She felt disgusting. Far too hot and itching inside. Whenever she tried to tell someone, they told her she just wasn't used to not bending.

"I don't really know what I want now," he said, watching her. She always imagined that the Mechanist knew everything. He was too smart. If he had wanted to, he could've single-handedly overthrown her Father's rule. She wanted to ask him why he hadn't, but it didn't seem like the guards would let them talk about that.

"You could go back to the Earth Kingdom," she looked around the room some, trying to find something to focus on besides being uncomfortable.

"I can't. Travel is restricted right now. The whole Nation is in chaos now that the war is over. The Earth Kingdom is talking about reparations and embargo. The problem with ending the war is that the war is over. There are entire generations of people that won't be able to function."

"I don't know how to function," she said, wiping her sweaty hands through her greasy hair. It was much too short now. But at least it would grow back evenly.

"Azula?"

Her vision swam and the room tilted on its side. Her stomach heaved and she felt hands on her again.

People were always putting their hands on her.

* * *

"Azula!" The Mechanist snapped into action as soon as the girl's eyes glazed over. He knew she wasn't doing well in here. He had seen what they did to the patients. He leapt over the small table and was on the ground after she hit the floor. He picked her up and held her as she vomited.

"Get your hands off her, Sir!" one of the guards snapped at him.

"Are you insane? Get this girl a doctor?!" She was shaking in his arms and was so thin. Her skin was burning up.

"She could be faking it, Sir. Take your hands off her and step away."

"I will not!" He picked Azula up in his arms. He remembered carrying Teo when he was much smaller.

"Sir! Put her down and stand aside!"

He was not going to let these people hurt her anymore. He couldn't. Azula had been ruthless, brutal and cruel on the missions her Father had sent her on. But she had been kind to Teo, and all the girl ever wanted to do was play and dance, tell stories. She had been ruined by the war. A child thrown out into the battlefield and told to adapt. Of course she broke!

The Mechanist shifted her weight a little as he reached into the pouch at his belt. These guards were fools. They hadn't even searched him for weapons. He grabbed the small flash grenade and threw it at the guard. The pot shattered and the volatile chemicals mixed together to create a loud bang and a bright flash.

He ran out with Azula still in his arms. He didn't know where he was taking her, but he knew she couldn't stay here!

* * *

_~ I'm not sure what I've done here. I completely threw out the rest of my notes as I was typing this chapter. The Mechanist is too smart for his own good, I guess! ~_


	24. Papers

Ty Lee misses traveling by balloon. It was faster, less bumpy and had a much better view than the boat. This boat wasn't even like Azula's royal barge. It was just the first boat she could find that would take her to the Fire Nation on what she kept calling, "Official Kiyoshi Warrior Business". Very few people questioned her when her hands traveled to the fan tucked in her belt.

Of course, by now, Suki would know that she'd shirked her duties to go home. She was supposed to be on her way to Ba Sing Se to help with the restoration efforts. But this was personal business. She'd work it out later. The longer she stayed on the boat, the more anxious she was to set foot on Fire Nation soil.

The lengthy letter that Teo wrote to Azula weighted down her armor.

Something made her feel that she had to hurry.

* * *

He had not planned any of this.

He hadn't planned anything at all aside from wanting to see Azula. He wasn't sure why.

Maybe it was just that he felt her connection to his son was stronger than his own.

Getting out of the asylum was the easy part. It was growing dark now. He ran with the former Princess in his arms until he couldn't run anymore. Now he was just walking, carrying her until he could find a river, stream or lake. He'd already used his entire skin of water, he'd just poured it over her head to try to cool her down.

She was dry now and still burning.

He stumbled across a small lake, tucked between two trees. It would be dark soon, he had to stop and just pray that those guards wouldn't go far from their base.

"Mechanist?"

"Yes Azula?" he continued walking, his footing sure in the darkening forest. It had been a while, but he'd had to survive in the wilderness before.

"Where are we going?"

"I haven't figured it out yet, Azula. I just couldn't leave you in there. Not in your condition," he said, edging down a small hill.

"It's hot. I think I'm burning on the inside," she wrapped her arms around the Mechanist's arms. It was nice to have someone hold her without holding her down.

"Here's a lake. I'm going to put you in the water. It should cool you down."

She just nodded. He put her down and helped her into the water. He then took off his boots and belt and waded in the water with her.

"You're going to freeze to death," she said, looking at him.

"The lake is getting warm already. Are you sure you can't bend? Release some energy?"

She seemed to concentrate and move her arms in a basic firebending form. Small sparks fizzled out from her fingers, but she couldn't produce more than that. "No. I can't." She looked so defeated, dipping down in the lake until her chin touched the water.

"Are you... chi blocked?" the Mechanist said skeptically. He didn't believe in chi and auras. That Ty Lee girl had mystified him the one time they had met, but he was sure that however the asylum has blocked her bending was the cause of her current state.

"They didn't do it right. When Ty Lee does it, my inner fire stays low, like... warm coals. It's... soothing. This is... this is like I drank molten rock and it's just bubbling up inside me."

"I don't know how to help you."

"I know," she said quietly. "Thank you for trying."

* * *

Aang didn't like all this official business. He thought that the end of the war would mean peace and parties. It turns out that the end of the war just threw everyone into chaos. It was like there was an egg thrown in the air and everyone was waiting for it to come down so they could try to catch it before it breaks.

"Thank you, Aang, for allowing me to accompany you," Bumi said from his seat beside him in the meeting room at the Fire Nation palace.

"Anything for you, Bumi." How could he say no to his only living childhood friend?

"I know it makes you uncomfortable."

"What does?" he had a feeling that his old friend could read him better than he thought.

"What I did to my son and grandson."

"I just don't... understand the... the politics of it. Why does everything have to be run like... a Pao Sho game. Strategy and making deals and breaking promises to make backroom deals and forming secret alliances. It's maddening! Why can't everyone just... get along?" he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn't mean to go off on his old friend like that.

"We were desperate and shortsighted. I underestimated Ozai's greed and my son's ingenuity. He was never meant to serve Ozai. The bargain was made with Iroh in mind. Still, my son is missing," the old king sighed, shifting in the uncomfortable chair.

"Aang, Bumi," the Fire Lord closed the door and smiled, happy to see friends after a long day of petitioners and advisors.

Bumi rose and bowed, "The King of Omashu humbly requests a favor of Fire Lord Zuko."

Aang tried hard not to roll his eyes at the formality of the request. He had already said enough on the matter.

Zuko rose as well. "The Fire Lord will hear your request, Bumi, King of Omashu."

Thankfully, they both resumed their seats. "I trust that you already know why I am here, Zuko. Lumi is missing. The prison says that he is not there."

"Lumi? Oh! The Mechanist! Yes, have you tried asking about the Mechanist?"

The Avatar put two and two together, the name finally clicked together. Bumi's son had made his new glider.

"I have, yes. It seems that overpopulation and missing documentation plagues the Fire Nation prison system," Bumi frowned.

"I know. Everything has been such a mess. The entire system was so focused on war, that there were so many things that were held off 'until the war was over' that they never got done. Like prison reform, tax reform, even renovating a park has now become such a mess that it would be easier to burn the park to the ground and let nature do the work for me." Zuko sighed. "I know that's not why you're here. I'll set some of my best men to locate the Mechanist. He has done much for our Nation."

"Other than building weapons?" Aang found himself asking.

"Of course. He designed an entire irrigation system for a previously uninhabitable island of ours. He made our ships safer and faster. And he and Teo invented air travel... for regular people that is. I have been trying to sell the idea of manufacturing commercial airships as a way to fund our reconstruction projects here but... the embargo that the Earth Kingdom wants to put on us will make that hard. No wonder it was just easier for Azulon to keep the war going."

"I understand what you mean, Zuko," Bumi said with a sympathetic look. "I will try to be patient. Though I do have another favor, but... I do not think you would grant it to me."

"What is it?"

"My Grandson wishes to return to his home," the words seemed to pain Bumi and Aang couldn't help but feel for him.

"He wants to come back? Why?" Zuko seemed genuinely surprised.

"He grew up in the Fire Nation. It is the only home he's ever known. Would you be willing to hire him on as an architect or engineer in one of your reconstruction projects? I could even quietly fund his salary, enough for a simple home and necessities."

"Bumi," Zuko started, "I will see what I can do. Though there was no official order of execution. In fact, Teo has no records at all. I'm sure if... he wanted... we could have him registered as a Fire Nation citizen since birth. But... we would need to manufacture such records."

"Isn't that illegal," Aang couldn't believe this line of thinking. He thought things were going to go right this time.

"It is an option. Since his enslavement was illegal in the first place, it would look bad for the both of our countries that he had been held here, against his will at all. I will make sure that none of his original documentation exists."

"Bumi? Why are you going to bring him back here?" Aang was rather exasperated, knowing how much effort Bumi had put into giving Teo a home in his palace.

"Because I want him to be happy, Aang. And the woman he loves is here."

The door to the meeting room was flung open.

"Zuko!" Ty Lee? Why was she here? "Zuko! Azula's escaped!"

"Well," Bumi rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. "Perhaps she isn't here after all!"


	25. Found

Teo was in pain. He fell on his hip, the jolt sent pain shooting up his side. He panted on the floor for a long moment before he pushed himself into a sitting position. From the floor, the work bench looked so high. His momentary despair was pushed away by his determination. He wanted Azula to remember him how he was, not as he is now. He didn't want to think about his dead legs in a shipping crate. He wondered if they buried them.

"Get up and stop stalling," he said aloud and used the crutches he made to lever himself up off the floor. The wooden legs he made were heavy, the feet drug on the floor as he balanced on the crutches. After so long of sitting, he felt dizzy. Like he was too high up, the air was too thin. It was silly. He forced himself to laugh a little before he slid his right leg forward.

He was going to do this. He's done this once before.

* * *

She was dry shortly after he pulled her out of the lake. It was worrying. Azula had slipped to unconsciousness in the middle of the night. They couldn't stay here much longer. He needed to get her to a physician. His clothes were still damp when he picked up the former princess.

"We'll get you some help, Princess. Just hang on a little longer. You're stronger than some asinine so-called chi healer. Bunch of komodo rino dung if you ask me."

"Mechanist?"

"Yes, Princess?"

"Do you have a real name?"

"It's Lumi, Princess. Lumi, son of Bumi, King of Omashu, at your service."

He paused when she seemed to shudder, but looking at her face, she was laughing.

"You're... a prince."

"I was."

"That would make Teo..?"

"My Father would have recognized him as an heir, had he the opportunity to meet him," Lumi continued down the mountain.

"They did meet," she closed her eyes.

"What? When?" around a rock, through a cluster of trees, the Mechanist found a path to take.

"In Omashu. We had that silly old man locked up. Teo was guarding him."

"Good. I'm glad," he hurried the pace, moving as fast as he could carrying the ill princess in the dark.

"I'm not a whore."

"I never said you were, Princess," he was trying to keep her awake and talking. He was afraid the heat would damage her organs and brain.

"Father said I was. For giving myself to Teo."

The Mechanist winced, he didn't want to think about what activities his son had done while he'd been away. They were just children! Children pretending to be adults while the real adults sent them off as pawns in a war. It made his heart hurt. "Teo loved you."

"I know. I was going to become Fire Lord and marry him."

"That would have been wonderful, Princess," he could feel the tears behind his eyes but willed them to stay put. He needed to get to the nearest village.

"There they are!"

It was too late, they had been found.

* * *

Zuko didn't spot them first, but when he turned his head, he nearly fell off of Appa's back. There was the Mechanist! Carrying Azula?

Aang landed the sky bison beside the pair and Ty Lee was the first on the ground. "Azula!"

"She's burning up. She can't bend, but I think all that energy is building up inside her!"

"Her chi's been blocked, but badly!" Ty Lee jabbed and prodded and massaged different parts of Azula's body to adjust the flow of her chi.

"Lumi!" King Bumi leapt down off Appa's back and rushed over to the Mechanist. "What wonderful luck!" Without further hesitation, the old man flung his arms around his youngest son.

"Father? What are you doing here? With... the... Fire Lord and... I don't know who you are, young man."

"My name is Aang, I'm the Avatar."

"The Avatar... of course," the Mechanist looked stunned.

Zuko knelt on the ground beside Ty Lee. "Why did they cut her hair? Look at her, she's all bones! What did they do to her?" He couldn't help but be angry. He had done the research, that asylum had been the best the Fire Nation had. Guilt started to seep in. If he had come to visit her, he would have known how badly they treated her. Sure he was busy, but he'd made the time to visit their Father.

Azula's eyes fluttered open and she gasped. She was breathing easier now. "What... where am I? Am I dead?"

"No, silly! You're safe now. The Mechanist saved you from whoever tangled up your chi in knots!" Ty Lee chimed in, smiling down through her Kiyoshi face paint.

"Why are you all here?" she rasped.

"Well..." Ty Lee started.

"The Avatar and I were looking for my son, when this lovely young lady told us that that hospital had misplaced you. I thought that since both of you had been misplaced, then there's a chance you were all together."

"That logic doesn't make any sense," the Mechanist chimed in.

"I was on my way to see you, Azula! I have a letter from Teo," she pulled a thick sheaf of papers from the folds of her armor.

"Teo?" Azula and the Mechanist said together.

"The Order of the White Lotus found him. He is at the palace in Omashu."

"He's... alive?" Azula looked over at her brother. She was weak, but the look she gave him shook Zuko. Guilt ate at him. He'd known Teo was alive this whole time and he hadn't even thought about telling Azula. He just figured that someone would have told her.

"Let's get you guys back to the palace," the young Fire Lord averted his eyes from his sister momentarily.

"No! Avatar, you will take me to Omashu!" Azula tried to fight off the Mechanist and Ty Lee.

"Azula," Aang looked thoughtful, "You need to recover first. Why don't I take you back to the palace and... then once you're feeling better, Teo can be brought to you? Bumi says he's been wanting to come home."

Zuko felt like he was watching a stranger. Azula turned and grabbed onto the Mechanist. "Lumi! He's alive!"

They all then piled onto Appa's back and Aang took them back to the Palace.

What was he going to do with Azula? She was still a war criminal and here he was bringing her home, in the middle of the night, without any of his council's approval.


	26. Together

News of Azula's escape and return to the palace spread like wildfire. Zuko had already been under heavy scrutiny over the matter of the colonies and the inability to work things out with the Earth King. There were crowds of people protesting outside the palace. Half of them wished for Azula's head. The rest wished for her to take over the throne. The palace guards had enough trouble trying to keep them from killing each other. but at least it kept them from storming the palace gates.

The royal council had been upset with Zuko, but on the word of a Kiyoshi warrior and King Bumi of Omashu, the state that Azula had been in when she'd been found was ruled as 'cruel and unacceptable for a hospital of good standing'. An independent investigation followed and the asylum had been shut down. Azula hadn't been the only bender to suffer due to incompetence.

Iroh contemplated the changes that had taken place and moved his wheel tile. He had left Ba Sing Se and gone to Omashu. It had taken Teo and Lumi only three months to construct and finish a new balloon, which the balloon itself was red and green striped. Since they were taking off from Omashu, King Kuei could not explicitly tell Bumi that he couldn't have balloon travel to Ember Island's most famous resort.

"You're taking too much time, Iroh," Lumi smiled.

"Am I? Is an old man not allowed to ponder the complexities of life?"

"You're stalling," Teo said, standing over his shoulder. He was still propped up on crutches, but he still smiled and meant it. Ozai could not break his spirit too badly.

"Perhaps I am. Are you ready for your journey, Teo?"

The young man nodded. After many arguments and much debating, King Bumi had decided that being allies with the Fire Nation would not be a bad thing. He had declared Ember Island to be Ember Island's sister city. The new airship was still under construction, but it promised relatively inexpensive recreational travel between the beach resort and the mountains of Omashu. Rich nobles from the Fire Nation would probably be intrigued by the idea of 'winter sport' like skiing and sledding. A new vacation resort was in the process of being built right then.

"I am. There's still so much to do over there though," Teo took a seat at the Pao Sho table and reached over, moving one of his Father's water tiles.

"Hey! I had a strategy!" Lumi exclaimed, but winked at his son. "I'm sure it'll all be handled, Teo. All you have to worry about is training pilots and new engineers. The business will be handled by the manager we hired."

"I know."

"Azula's political position has been officially denounced. She's under guard by the Kiyoshi, living on a small island off the coast of Ember Island."

"You mean, she and Ty Lee share a house right next to where I'll be living?" Teo beamed.

Iroh had been the one to give his family's old summer home to Azula. She had been abused by his brother, twisted into a tool to be used against his enemies. She had been too young. They all had. He shook his head at the thoughts. "In time, you probably wouldn't even need to sneak around anymore!" he grinned.

Teo rolled his eyes, but his excitement was clear. He hobbled out of the room to check on the balloon once more.

Iroh turned back to Lumi, the Mechanist seemed to be thinking very hard. "He will be fine."

"Oh. Yes, he will be. That wasn't what I was thinking about," Lumi paused and took off his monocle, wiping it on his shirt. "I just never thought that things would... turn out well."

Iroh chuckled, "I know what you mean, my friend. I know what you mean.

* * *

"Ty Lee! You're just making it worse!" Azula snapped as her old friend fussed with her hair. It was just a short, shaggy mess that refused to lay in any acceptable manner.

"It looks cute, Azula. Calm down. Teo won't care. I mean, he probably won't even notice!"

"He'll notice," she mumbled and stood up from the vanity to pace away from the mirror. It only showed her awful hair and Ty Lee's sickeningly excited expression.

"He'll be so happy to see you that he won't! Besides, he's changed too," Ty Lee reminded her. Her cheery demeanor faltered some.

"Please don't. I won't... I won't believe it until I've seen him for myself. Part of me still believes that you're all lying to me."

"Azula... why would we do that?"

The former Princess paced again, then picked up the brief letter from the messenger hawk. Teo was on Ember Island right now. He was so close. He was taking a tour of the new airship station and then he would take a boat to her island. To her prison. Eternal house arrest.

Not that she could complain. Every week, supplies would arrive by boat and be carried in. Ty Lee would supervise the entire process, making sure that neither Azula, nor the men bringing the supplies tried anything stupid.

And Teo and Ty Lee were allowed to be with her. That was more than she could ever hope for right now.

"Azula! I hear the boat!" Ty Lee grabbed her arm and pulled her outside and down the road that lead from the house to the dock.

There was indeed a boat coming, the red and white sail full of a good wind. Azula could just barely make out Teo's scruffy hair and the goggles he wore over his eyes. Oh how she missed those goggles!

She found herself running away from Ty Lee and throwing up her arms, letting out a shower of blue and white sparks in a childish display that she hadn't done since she was five years old. She vaguely heard Ty Lee laughing and cartwheeling behind her.

Once the boat stopped, Azula grabbed the rope that had been thrown to her and she tied if off expertly.

"Little help?" Teo smiled and passed up a pair of wooden crutches to Ty Lee. Then he held his arms out to Azula.

She took his calloused hands and pulled him up to a standing position. He'd always had trouble in boats. She didn't let go of his hands.

He took a careful step up onto the dock and smiled. He wasn't any taller, but his voice was deeper that she remembered. "Aza," he smiled, looking at her with... love in his eyes.

Azula, the former Fire Princess, the almost Fire Lord, the conquerer of Ba Sing Se, let out a quiet sob and pulled Teo into a fierce hug.

"I love you, Aza," he muttered, putting his arms around her as they stood together on the docks.

Neither of them minded that Ty Lee started carrying Teo's things into the house.


	27. Short

After their long reunion, the trio carried the rest of Teo's bags inside the house. He didn't have much, nor was it difficult, since they stacked the bags on his wheelchair and Azula pushed it while Teo crutched along beside her.

He was a little worried. Azula seemed withdrawn, her face a blank mask. Of course he was used to her hiding her true emotions, but not like this. She just looked sad. Guilty.

"You look tired," she said when they finally reached the house.

"I am. It was a long flight, then I had to tour the facilities. Then the walk," he saw her expression change slightly. "But I just need to sit down for a while. I'll be fine." He smiled, not wanting her to worry. He already noticed her watching him.

"Maybe you should retire for the night," she said quietly.

"No. I came all this way, I'm not going to fall asleep now," he moved into the house and sat down on the couch. He lay his crutches down beside his feet.

Azula was still watching him, hesitating. She came close and pulled the goggles off his face and set them down on the table. "Isn't that better?"

Teo reached out and grabbed Azula's arm and gently pulled her into his lap. "There," he smiled again, "This is better." He tried his best to ignore how thin she was. He'd be hard pressed to guess which one of them weighed more.

He forced himself to sit still as she tensed, seeming to be unsure of what to do now. It wasn't for a minute that he realized she had reached down to feel his leg. "Strip."

"What?"

"Strip," she stood up from his lap and looked down at him. "Ty Lee took the boat to Ember Island for a night off. She's got like, three boyfriends there. It's just us. Take off your clothes." It was an order. Or as close as she could approximate now. He fondly recalled their time in Ba Sing Se when she would return from impersonating a Kiyoshi Warrior and give him similar orders. But that was then, with the disability that they had been familiar with, not now, with that phantom box of legs hanging over his head.

He was afraid, he didn't want her to see. He couldn't stand seeing her guilt. Other people looked at him with pity. Azula never had and he didn't want that to change. "I don't..." he started, then saw the look in her eyes. He sighed and started to pull off his tunic.

Once he started, she helped pull his tunic and undershirt up and over his head, and just tossed them across the room. "Pants!" she demanded, once his torso was bare. It wasn't the same as Ba Sing Se. There was no excitement now. Only fear, dread, apprehension. He'd be hard pressed to guess which one of them was more terrified.

"Azula... please?" He looked up at her, then saw the look she was giving him.

"Teo... I need to see what he did to youn" her voice was barely above a whisper. Even though she wasn't a princess and he wasn't a slave, he couldn't refuse. He had been trying to stall the inevitable. But Azula never could stand to wait.

He grabbed one of his crutches and used it to lever himself up off the couch and into a standing position. He then unbuckled his belt and nodded to Azula.

* * *

With shaking hands, she pulled down his trousers, letting them fall down by his ankles. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Leather straps held wooden prosthetics to the remains of his thighs. He leaned on the crutch and picked up his leg, letting her see how the neatly carved knee joint moved. She reached out and touched the oiled wood, then looked up at his face.

"Can you... take them off?" she asked, in a whisper, not trusting her voice any louder.

He carefully sat back down and started unbuckling. She would help, but it all seemed too complex. Much more involved than the braces he used to wear. She doubted her courage now, unsure if she could bear to see how he'd been maimed. Because of her.

"Azula?"

She looked down at him again, sitting in his under wrappings with a nervous expression. The remains of his legs were wrapped in bandages, but he slowly unraveled first the right, then the left, leaving two neat rolls behind. He was always so meticulous.

"Are you still in pain?" She steeled herself to look from his face to his legs. She'd heard that amputated limbs were called "stumps", but it just seemed cruel.

"Sometimes. It isn't the same though."

She sat down beside him and inspected the damage. The jagged scars that had been hastily sewn together flaps of skin. She looked up at his face, which was turned away, his cheeks red. "Are you embarrassed?"

"I'm... yes," he sighed. "They're ugly. Not much of an improvement."

"Teo, I cannot believe you are embarrassed because you are... short," she made an attempt at humor, even though she couldn't bring herself to smile.

He laughed and looked back over at her. He reached up and ran his fingers through her hair. "Short hair looks good on you."

She let out the breath she'd been holding and leaned closer, resting her head against his shoulder. He was alive. "I hate it. I look like a boy. It's... messy."

"It'll grow back," he pressed a kiss into her annoyingly short hair. She felt like a monster complaining about hair. Of course her hair would grow back.

"I should've hidden it better," she said suddenly. She cursed her loose, guilty tongue. Teo was the only one that drew these emotions out of her.

"Hidden what better?" He shifted and turned so he could see her better. A part of her missed the contact.

"Us. Being intimate. Father found out and... and he almost killed you," she couldn't look up at him. She stared at his legs, imagining the dead things she received in that box still attached. Somehow that was much worse.

"Oh. I figured he found out. I thought, maybe someone let it slip. Lo or Li. Someone that was on the tank train after the drill," he said, not seeming too upset.

"We were careless. I was careless," she balled her hands into fists. She could feel her temperature rising. She had control issues since the asylum, but she wasn't going to hurt Teo. Not again.

"They would've found out anyway."

"No! They wouldn't have!" Blue sparks crackled around her and she leapt off the couch, away from him. "They wouldn't have known if I hadn't come home pregnant! But denying it didn't help. Father found out."

"Pregnant?" She couldn't look at him. His face changing to disbelief, then wonder, then sadness when he guessed the fate of their child.

"The evidence was... eliminated. You were sent off so that he could murder you," her fire still burned inside her. She tried to breathe slowly. Calm down. She didn't want to start hearing the people that weren't there.

She left the house, couldn't hold the fire in. She ran to the shore. The small beach that she had all to herself. The water was freezing, but it helped. She ducked her head under the water and stayed there until her lungs burned. She felt like a monster again. She gave something beautiful to him one moment, then snatched the idea away just as fast.

Also, there was a part of her that was intensely satisfied that she'd run out of the house, down a steep hill and onto the beach while he was still stranded on that couch. She gathered that she had some time before he could literally put himself back together and come out all this way.

Control. Control.

She still needed it. Craved it. And Teo continued to let her control him and his feelings.


	28. Perfection

Ty Lee returned early the next morning to find Azula waiting for her on the docks. The circus freak turned warrior didn't need any more prompting to leap up out of the sailboat and onto the dock with her friend. Her aura was dim and pale. "Azula! What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"No," she said quietly, still standing there. "Your boat is getting away."

"What? Oh no!" Ty Lee forgot about the boat. She jumped back aboard and grabbed the rope. "Azula! Tie me up!"

"Isn't that... what your boyfriends say?" the former princess did not move to help with the boat.

"That's not funny! Help me or we'll all be stranded here until next week!" she cried. Something in Azula made her move at that.

Once the boat was secure, Ty Lee turned to her friend again. "What's going on? Why are you out here?"

"I told him about the baby."

"And?" she watched Azula's aura flicker, pale blue to gray.

"And that's it. I told him. Then I left him stranded on the couch while I came out here. I thought you would appreciate that I didn't blow the house up."

"Azula! You left him there? That's... come on!" she couldn't believe this! They were both so lucky to be alive and free, and here they were still acting like children. She grabbed her oldest friend's arm and drug the stubborn princess back to the house.

She wasn't sure what she was thinking, picturing Teo a miserable pile on the couch. She knew him better than that. The living room area had been cleaned. There was no blood on the floor. The couch was tidy as well. Teo had been in the kitchen, sitting in his wheelchair, dressed in a red and brown tunic and black pants. He already had his legs on and he was had a pot of porridge cooking as well as some eggs.

Ty Lee looked over at Azula, her aura turning yellow with confusion.

Teo pulled the porridge off the fire with tongs and set the heavy pot down on the stone in front of the fireplace. "Good morning," he glanced over at them, smiling. His aura was still as orange as it always was.

"Good morning, Teo. How did you sleep?" Ty Lee strode over to the pantry to find some of the fresh berries they had collected from the bushes on the back of the island.

"I made it into bed and slept as well as I usually do," he said, scooping up the eggs onto a plate. "Azula, did you sleep at all?"

"No."

Ty Lee decided to help with the breakfast effort and make tea. Teo always used to have that black, nasty stuff he called coffee. She hoped he didn't bring any with him. "Do you have to go to the factory today?"

"No. They won't need me for a week or so. Unless I'm not wanted here," he glanced over at Azula.

"You're wanted. If you want to stay."

"Aza, stop being so dramatic. Of course I want to stay! Zuko promised me anything I wanted once he became Fire Lord. Anything. My Grandfather was willing to do anything to make me happy. He was going to find forged papers to make me a Fire Nation citizen so that I could be closer to you! I can't believe that you'd still think that I don't want to be here. Nobody has ever forced me to do anything I didn't want to do, Azula. Not even you."

"I don't accept that," Azula looked down at him, storming over to stand over him. He still held the plate of eggs in his lap.

"You're just going to have to."

"I'm in control! You don't get to decide!"

"Then you agree that I'm where I should be then?"

"No!" Pause. "Yes! You aren't allowed to leave me."

"I never planned on it. Let's have breakfast then," Teo smiled, and pushed his chair around Azula to get to the table.

Ty Lee wished she could paint a picture to capture Azula's face! But soon the moment is over and the three of them share their morning meal.

* * *

It has been a year after the war officially ended. The airship line between Omashu and the Fire Nation is finally profitable. The Earth King and Fire Lord Zuko were still trying to resolve the issues with the colonies. His struggles were fairly unknown on House Arrest Island. Especially since Ty Lee had been recalled into active duty.

It was a lazy morning. So lazy that Teo hadn't even bothered to wake up yet. Azula had gone for an early morning walk. She hadn't heard any voices since leaving the asylum. And Teo was helping her with her control issues. Her temperature was occasionally a problem, but they had found ways to deal with those inconstancies. In truth, she had everything she ever wanted. She was the Queen of her own Nation (metaphorically if not actually), no one was going to tell her that she couldn't dance in the rain. And she was going to marry Teo, as soon as they could come to terms with ZuZu on getting a Fire Sage out there. Of course King Bumi had offered to marry them himself, but that would only count in Omashu. And there was no way that she would ever be allowed off her island.

Not that not being married stopped the two of them from certain activities. She smiled. Teo never failed to surprise her. He was very clever indeed. She returned to the house and into their bedroom. "Finally awake, I see?"

Teo had been sitting up against the carved headboard, making notes in a book. His pencil stilled as he saw her. "I am, Princess. I've had an idea for a new glider design."

"Don't tell me that you'll be falling out of balloons again?" she frowned. It had been scary enough the first time.

"Oh, no. I was thinking that the South cliffs would be the best place for takeoff," he nodded, adding something to a diagram.

"They aren't high enough. You won't be able to just jump it. Can you even jump?" she sat down and listed off all of the things that popped into her head. It didn't occur to her they might be a little insensitive.

"They aren't from the old way. Trust me, Aza, I have it all under control," he smiled and turned the book around. She saw a quick sketch of a large glider wing, anchored to a variation of his wheelchair.

"It isn't high enough for a standing jump, but speed from the hill above the cliff would get me up there."

"Yeah, before you gently glide into the ocean and drown while strapped to this contraption," she frowned, though her concern.

"If it would make you feel better, I'll ask Aang to test it the next time I see him."

"I don't like it how you're on a first name basis with the Avatar."

"He and my Grandfather are close. It's not my fault that they're both ancient!" Teo laughed and set the book aside. He leaned over to pull her close, placing a kiss on her lips.

"Hey, isn't it time for you to get out of bed?"

"Can't. I'm stranded. _Somebody_ decided to take off my legs in the other room. Then that _mysterious person_ carried me into the bedroom. That _rogue princess_ also decided to not return my wheelchair either," he smirked. It was the smirk she always used to wear as a child.

Azula sighed dramatically. "FINE!" She smiled and got up from the bed to retrieve his wheelchair. Then she left him to get himself ready.

She went to the living room and cranked the handle on the music player that Lumi had invented. It played back music that had been trapped on wax cylinders. Teo had brought back a set of recordings from the Omashu symphony. She gently picked up the cylinder of her favorite recording and put it in the machine and turned it on.

Azula couldn't help herself. She'd fallen in love with the exotic sounds of the foreign composer. She started to dance, taking her most graceful firebending forms and just moving without her flames.

This was as close to perfect as she felt she'd ever get.

And she was okay with that.

Especially when Teo rolled out of the bedroom and smiled brightly at her.


End file.
